When you Dream
by BlazeDrgn
Summary: Naruto thought he was the only one like him. Shunned by almost everyone. Naruto is surprised when he finds himself dreaming of someone like him. But it’s just a dream… right? (Rating might go up later)
1. to hear without hearing

Authors note: My first Naruto Fan Fic! HAHA! grins

Naruto thought he was the only one like him, the only one with a fiercely kept secret. Shunned by those who knew, and even by those who did not. Naruto is surprised when he finds himself dreaming of someone like him. But it's just a dream… right? But when the dream begins to extend into the waking world, Naruto begins to wonder if the one in his dreams truly exists.

(There will be pairing but I'm not sure of them just yet, but I'll let you know the moment I figure it out:-p)

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A young blond haired boy sat up groggily and yawed wide before reaching over to his bedside table to pick up his clock and shut it off. Wiping the sleep from his eyes he clambered out of bed and tossed his night cap on the pillow. He clambered into the bathroom to shower before getting dressed in his usual attire of yellow pants and jacket along with a black pair of boots. Digging around in the few cupboards in his kitchen he found nothing to eat. _Oh well… Kakashi said not to eat breakfast anyway_. The young boy thought to himself before walking over to his dresser to pick up his Hitai-ate head band. He tied it over his forehead tightly before stepping out the door locking it behind him.

"Alright, here I come!" he yelled before running off. As he reached the bridge he called out to a young girl with long pink hair wearing a red dress and her head band more on top of her head.

"Good morning Sakura-Chan!" he said waving to her as he walked up.

"Good morning Naruto." He then looked over to a dark haired boy who stood resting his elbows on the railing of the bridge. The two looked at each other of a brief moment then looked away. To say that Naruto and Sasuke never got along was to win some kind of prize for the greatest understatement of the year.

"Good morning everyone, sorry I'm late the Hokage needed to see me to help decide which hat to wear today." Kakashi said in a mild voice with a hint of amusement as he walked up to his group waiting for him on the bridge.

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison. Sasuke didn't say anything; it didn't seem to matter to him that they had been waiting there for him to arrive for well over an hour now.

"Today we will start with the usual routine." Kakashi said pulling two bells from his belt and holding them up, while you couldn't see him smiling you could almost hear it in his voice. Naruto groaned while Sakura immediately went to Sasuke's side chatting to him about some kind of teamwork in hopes of getting him to say something more to her today than just the usual cold brush off.

The training grounds were still soaked and muddy from the downpour the day before despite the mild warm weather and clear skies over head. Sakura gave a small whimper and cringed not wanting to look dirty in front of Sasuke.

"Hah, no rain or mud's going to keep me from getting a bell today! Whoa!" Naruto had nearly slipped and fallen face first into a mud puddle and had to splay his arms out to keep from falling right after making his boast.

"You right there Dunce?" Sasuke asked looking at Naruto a small sneer in his voice. Kakashi gave a small sigh.

"When you are all ready…" he said cutting off any remark Naruto was about to fire back, he placed the timer down on the tree stump as usual. "Go." The moment he started the timer the three jumped away to conceal themselves before moving in trying to work as a group to get at least one bell.

The timer rang at lunchtime seeing the three exhausted, and mud splattered, in Naruto's case it was more mud soaked, and no bells to show for there efforts. Sakura was whining trying to get the mud out of her hair while both Naruto and Sasuke sat on the ground a safe distance between them neither of them really listening to Kakashi's latest lecture on teamwork, properly applying yourself, and so on. Rather than thinking about what ramen he was going to have when he got home, Naruto was trying to listen to a faint sound that seemed to be on the edge of his hearing. He strained his ears to try and hear it better, but the more he tried the fainter it seemed to get, almost as if it wasn't hearing it with his ears. Naruto snapped out of concentration when he felt someone watching him. Looking up he saw Kakashi crouching in front of him eyes level with his own.

"Ahhhh…." Naruto grinned up at his teacher.

"Were you listening to anything that I just said?" Kakashi asked, the question obviously rhetorical… he already knew the answer even if Naruto gave another.

"Um… yes! Yes I was sensei!" Sakura moaned at the obvious lie.

"You need to pay more attention Naruto; you never listen when someone's telling you something important." Sakura scolded at him.

"I listen when you tell me." Naruto said looking down to hide a small blush as he raised a hand to scratch the back of his head.

"I can't go around constantly explaining things for you Naruto." She continued to scold him completely missing the attempted complement.

"If you two are done," Kakashi said with a small sigh as he stood back up "We need to get on with today's tasks."

"Don't you mean chores?" Naruto said looking up at him pouting.

"Can't we at least have a moment to clean ourselves?" Sakura asked with such a pitiful look on her face and whining tone it nearly put Naruto's worst whining to shame. About to object Kakashi changed his mind and pulled his book 'make out paradise' from his pouch.

"Alright, meet back here before I finish this chapter." He said as he seated himself down on the same stump that supported the timer.

"But that's not enough time to go home and clean up!" Sakura objected. Kakashi's response was to simply point at the lake.

"Uh…"

"Come on Sakura! It's better than nothing!" Naruto called back to her grinning already walking over to the lake. Naruto dove right in, hoping to get rid of some of the mud off of his clothes as well as his skin. Surfacing he grinned over Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura scolded at him and knelt at the edge, carefully washing the mud from her skin and dress. Sasuke was barely muddy at all, so he just stood there as if he had come for another unspoken reason. As he tread water Naruto looked out over to the other side of the lake. Someone was crying, he was sure of it. But he didn't hear it as such… it seemed he sensed it. Something crying out for help… in pain. Naruto began to swim to the other side of the lake; something inside of him almost seemed to be pulling him towards the sound.

"Naruto? Naruto! Where do you think your going, get back here!" Sakura cried out after him.

"Hang on a sec…" Naruto muttered to quiet for her to hear.

"Naruto! Don't make me come in after you, if you do your going to be in such trouble." In truth Sakura had no intentions of following Naruto into the lake but she hoped she could simply manage to convince Naruto to come back without her having to do that.

"Just a minute… I'll be right back." Naruto called out louder this time so Sakura could hear him swimming faster.

"You better be!" Sakura called out before sitting back her hands crossed over her chest in annoyance.

"I wonder what that dunce is up to now." Sasuke mused aloud.

"I don't think I care to know. But if you like we can go have lunch together while we wait for him to get back." Sakura said blushing slightly looking at him hopefully.

"No thanks, I'll decline." Sasuke said simply looking away causing Sakura to lie down on her back in exasperation. She looked up at the sky sadly wondering why Sasuke kept brushing her off. She scrunched her eyes tight trying to ignore Kakashi's question as to where Naruto had gone.

Crawling out on the other side of the lake Naruto shook himself off with little effect, his clothes still retaining much of the water. Not caring too much Naruto began to wander into the forest trying to find the source of the crying. He doubled back on himself once or twice, not caring that Kakashi had probably more than finished a chapter by now, but he was hoping that his sensei would get lost in his book and give him more than a chapters worth of time. He was almost beginning to feel frustrated when a solid sound began to reach his ears. He broke into a run, certain where the sound was coming from, his feet nearly slipping out from under him completely the ground just as slick and muddy over here. He stopped and almost purposefully ran into a tree to stop from falling over into to mud when he heard the crying very close by. In front of him was a large tree lying on the ground, blackened marks at the end. Lightning, Naruto mused to himself as he hauled himself over the tree. As he landed on the other side he found what was making the noise. About five feet from him a young looking fox was pinned almost completely under the tree. Naruto's face saddened as he saw it trying to pull itself free with only its head and front legs to work with.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out!" Naruto called to it reassuringly as he brought his hands up quickly in front of him "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" At least twenty solid copies of him appeared on either side of the fallen tree. They all simultaneously placed their hands underneath the tree and began to heave. As they all heaved Naruto realized he had not summoned enough copies as the fox still could not seem to free itself despite all their efforts.  
"Naruto? Naruto, come on Naruto I know you don't like doing the D rank tasks but someone…"  
"KAKASHI!" Naruto called out cutting him short. Hoping the teacher would come quickly, his clones were starting to disappear, and the last thing he wanted to do was to drop the full weight of the log back down on the fox.

"What? What's the matter Naru…" Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw Kakashi slide himself next to the fox. Using his shoulder and back as leverage Kakashi heaved up and quickly picked up the fox in both arms. Naruto let go of the tree and the rest of the clones disappeared the moment Kakashi and the fox were out from under the tree.  
"Now let's see here…" Kakashi said running a hand over the foxes back.

"Is she ok?" Naruto asked, not sure why he thought the fox was a girl.

"Well, nothing seems to be broken." The fox looked about itself, golden eyes shining with curiosity. It had a brown coat, or was that mud? And it had a very big bushy tail. Looking up into Kakashi's eye the fox regarded him for a moment before proceeding to lick the only part of his face visible in thanks.

"Hey cut that out." Kakashi said chuckling. Naruto was glad the fox was alright; he smiled and reached over to pet it. The moment his hand touched her head the fox turned to look at him for a moment causing Naruto to draw his hand away not wanting to scare the fox, but she merely began to wash his face in the same form of appreciation.

"Alright now, its time to head back." Kakashi said as he placed the fox down. She immediately began to yip and jump up with her front feet leaving her hind legs on the ground almost as if she were attempting to stand.  
"Do you want to come with us?" Naruto asked happily looking at the fox. She yipped again and proceeded to prance about him as if to say 'yes' but Kakashi shook his head.  
"That's a wild animal Naruto, not some stray pup you can just take home."  
"Awww" Naruto and the fox both whined at the same time. Kakashi looked at the fox surprised but then shook his head; normal foxes don't understand common speech.

"Come on Naruto." Kakashi led Naruto away as the fox simply sat there watching them go whining slightly.

Throughout the rest of the day Naruto could not get the fox off of his mind. He had told his companions what had happened when they had gotten back. Sakura gave him a small complement which caused Naruto to blush; Sasuke asked how he had managed to hear the fox in the first place from so far away. To this he just shrugged and gave no verbal reply but glanced at Kakashi who hadn't really said anything about the fox. After the team had split up for the day after Kakashi had left to submit his report for the day Naruto walked slowly home eyes to the ground lost in his own thoughts. Sakura watched him go wondering if he was ok. Usually Naruto tried to get them all to train together or at least the two of them, but this time the bright energetic young ninja had barely muttered a goodbye with a half-hearted wave as he walked off. Feeling slightly worried Sakura said goodbye to Sasuke before hurrying to catch up with Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, are you ok?" Sakura asked as she walked in stride next to him.

"Hm? Oh yeah I'm fine." He said looking at her giving her a small smile.

"Are you sure?" she'd never seen him so lost in thought before, she was certain he'd run into a pole or house or something if he didn't pay more attention to where he was going. "You're probably just hungry right? Let's go grab some ramen or something." She had no idea what had compelled her to offer to go anywhere with Naruto, but she had to try something to bring him out of it. Naruto smiled up at her.  
"Thanks but no thanks, I'll just grab something at home." Ok, Sakura thought to herself, something had to be wrong with him. She had just offered to go get ramen with him and he'd said no despite the fact that he'd asked her many times before to go with him. She stopped in her tracks taken completely by surprise not sure what to do next.  
"I'll see you tomorrow Sakura." Naruto called to her turning to wave at her before turning back around again. Naruto walked into his apartment and looked around giving a small sigh. Everything was a huge mess, and there didn't seem to be anything more to eat than there had been that morning. He looked anyway, throughout all the cupboards and the fridge until he finally found some leftover fried chicken that he had overlooked behind the milk. Grinning he grabbed a plate and put the chicken on in. There was about a quarter chicken worth left. As he sat down about to eat he thought for a moment looking out the window. That fox had looked awful skinny… I wonder if she's hungry. Putting the chicken in a container, Naruto headed out to where the fallen tree was wondering if the fox was still there. Night was starting to fall as Naruto sat himself down on the fallen tree. He left the container on the ground with half of the chicken inside with the other half in his hands. As he finished his portion of food he sat looking at the container wondering if the fox was going to come back or not. Resting his head on his palm he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he saw the fox edging towards the container sniffing hungrily. It looked up at Naruto who was sitting watching her with a small smile on his face. He gave a small nod and the fox quickly moved forward to polish off the chicken in a matter of seconds. Naruto slid down quietly and walked up to her carefully not wanting to startle her, he extended one hand out slowly towards her to let her catch his scent. Looking up she sniffed his fingers for a moment then nuzzled her head against his palm. Smiling Naruto proceeded to pet her and try to get some of the twigs and mud cakes he found in her fur till the moon was high. He promised to stop by the next night as the fox proceeded to was his face affectionately. Naruto felt exhausted when he reached home and didn't even bother to do more than kick off his boots and taking off his head band before he tossed himself onto his bed, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

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Ahhhh! Yay:-D. My first Naruto chapter! Please let me know if you liked it or have suggestions or stuff… R&R's are the things that make fan fic's go! Mine anyway :-p and as always no flames for I shall use them to make marshmallows.


	2. To dream a dream

Authors Note: I forgot to add the disclaimer in the first chapter… ah well I think its obvious I don't own Naruto :-p but anyway. Thank you everyone for your reviews :-D 'happy' now on to chapter two! Oh and when there's a --- it means solid change of perspective and/or location.

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            It had been a week since Naruto and Kakashi saved the fox, and Naruto always visited the fox at the end of the day after team seven had split up. Kakashi watched Naruto walking towards the lake carrying two bowls of ramen. The Jonin couldn't help but feel that something was slightly wrong. Naruto had heard the fox when it far away enough to be out of normal hearing. He couldn't help but wonder if the demon fox might have had something to do with it. Raising a hand he lifted his head band from over his Sharingan eye, and looked down at Naruto. Nope, nothing but Naruto. Kakashi shook his head and put the head band back in place, Naruto probably just wants a pet or something, he thought to himself, it's not like there was anything strange about that fox. That decided Kakashi leaped down from the roof top and headed home, taking his time as always.

           Kakashi reached home about half an hour later, looking around he sighed at the mess. He needed to clean up in here, his place was beginning to look just as bad as Naruto's. At least he didn't have cartons of milk way out of date sitting around; well… he was sure he didn't. He sat down on his bed and picked up Make out Paradise from his bedside table, despite the fact he was home by himself he still didn't remove his headband or mask. He fell asleep reading the book, forgetting to set the alarm on his clock to wake him up in the morning beforehand.

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            Naruto walked into the kitchen tossing the empty bowls of ramen into the bin. It had taken Naruto awhile to notice that the fox was incapable of eating the noodles and could only lap up the broth. Undaunted by this Naruto tried to help by whirling the noodles onto his fork then placing them into the foxes open mouth. The carnivore's teeth weren't quite capable of noodles, but it managed somehow none the less. Naruto had then stayed to play before leaving the fox for the night. He left each time looking back over his shoulder to look at the fox sitting watching him leave with sad eyes wanting to come with him which always caused Naruto to try and think of a way to sneak her back home. But he knew that if he ran into Kakashi on the way back, the Sharingan wielding Kakashi would see through any illusion instantly, which left very few other options. Naruto got into his pajamas and climbed into bed and set his clock before curling up under the blankets, it was unusual cold for the end of spring.

            As Naruto entered the dream world he found himself lying on a grassy plane looking up at a clear blue sky. He felt like he was waiting for someone to arrive, so he stayed where he was rather than explore like he usually liked to do.

            "Hello Naruto." A soft female voice seemed to call from close beside him. Sitting up he looked around to see a woman sitting on a rock about six feet away from him. She had long yellow hair that stopped just above her waist, the ends of her hair had black tips like she had dipped the ends in ink. She wore a simple cream tunic and a pair of dark rust colored pants. She had light colored skin, almost as if she didn't venture out into the sun too often. However the most unusual thing about her appearance was her eyes. They were as yellow as her hair and almost seemed to be glowing.

            "Hello" Naruto managed to reply his throat feeling a bit tight. Something was strange about this woman, he could almost see an aura of charka around her, shifting and dancing. The woman smiled and stood up walking over on bare feet to sit down in front of him.

            "My name is Tao, it's nice to get to talk to you." Naruto nodded not sure what to say. Nice to talk to me? Why not nice to meet me or something… it's not like we've met before or anything. Naruto scolded slightly, this was a boring dream, why couldn't he dream of becoming hokage or defeating Sasuke or something like that.

            "You want to become hokage?" Tao asked looking at him curiously. Naruto blinked taken by slight surprise.

            "You better believe it, I'm going to be hokage and everyone's going to have to accept me and respect me!" he said grinning at her.

            "Then I shall help you." She stated simply in an almost a-matter-of-fact tone.

            "What?" This dream had gone from boring to confusing.

            "I can help you become the hokage of the Hidden Leaf village." She extended her hand as if to seal it with a handshake. Naruto looked at it then extended his own hand. Aw heck it's only a dream, he thought to himself as they shook hands. He felt a small shock run though his hand almost as if he'd gotten a static shock from something that extended through his whole arm.

            "Alright then Uzumaki Naruto, shall we start with Ninjutsu Genjutsu or Taijutsu?" As he looked at her blankly she giggled. "So I guess we'll start with the definitions hm?" Naruto grinned a bit embarrassed and nodded.

            Naruto woke up the next morning a minute before his alarm was about to go off. Feeling oddly awake for this time of day he turned off the alarm and got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After he'd showered and dressed he went through the kitchen as always looking for breakfast. He gave a small sigh then looked at the table to see if he'd left anything there. Four rice balls sat on a plate in the middle of the table with a small bottle of soy sauce next to them.

            "Alright! Time to eat" Naruto sat down and immediately grabbed one of the rice balls and began to eat not really caring how they got there, he just assumed master Iruka left them there for him. He finished one and was reaching for a second when he found he already felt full. Huh… they're not that big, oh well. He thought as he picked up the last three and wrapped them up taking them with him.

            As Naruto ran up to the bridge he was surprised to find that he was the first person there. Usually he was the last one to get there, or second to last if you counted Kakashi. Naruto sat up on the railing of the bridge swinging his legs back and forth slightly looking around wondering when the others were going to show up. Sasuke was the first one he saw coming, walking casually head downcast slightly in thought.

            "GOOD MORNING SASUKE!!" Naruto yelled loud in hopes of surprising him. Sasuke's head snapped up and looked up at Naruto.

            "So what are you doing up so bright and early in the morning?" Sasuke asked when he was close enough to not have to shout. Naruto chuckled happy that he surprised Sasuke. He gave a simple shrug in reply still grinning

            "I dunno" he replied simply as Sasuke rested his back against the railing crossing his hands over his chest and said nothing more. Naruto continued to sit swinging his legs still in an energetic and happy mood. He was starting to wonder if the rice balls were seasoned with sugar instead of salt when he saw Sakura coming.

            "Good morning Sakura-Chan!" he called out, not as loudly this time but still waved his arm around frantically nearly causing himself to loose his balance and fall off the bridge.

            "Eh? Ah, Good morning Naruto, you're here early aren't you?" Sakura asked looking at him as if she were wondering if he was feeling alright. Naruto nodded as Sakura stood in between Naruto and Sasuke.

            It was nearly noon and Kakashi still hadn't shown up.

            'WHERE IS HE?!' Sakura's inner Sakura screamed as she slid down to sit on the ground with a sigh. Sasuke was starting to get annoyed, not just at the fact that Kakashi was late but also because Naruto was still sitting swinging his legs looking around like he had been doing for over the past five hours, how did he still have energy?

            "I wonder where Kakashi is." Naruto wondered aloud glancing up as if he half expected to see the Jonin appear from nowhere like usual.

            "I don't know but I'm hungry." Sakura whined, her stomach rumbled in reply as she placed her hands over her stomach as if to keep it quiet. Naruto looked at her and then thought for a moment then remembered the rice balls he had grabbed before he left.

            "Hey I've got food." He said jumping down from his seat taking them out of his pouch he unwrapped them and offered them to Sakura.

            "Ah! Naruto you're the best!" she said taking one eating it happily. Naruto didn't even manage to mumble a reply as he tried not to blush at the first complement Sakura had given him.

            "Hey Sasuke," Sasuke looked at him out of the corner of his eye to find him offering him one of the two remaining rice balls. "Might as well make it even and fair." The blond said looking away. Sasuke gave a small nod of thanks and took one and the three of them sat down to eat.

            "Hey these are good, did you make them Naruto?" Sakura asked looking at him. Naruto shook his head, mouth full of rice.

            "Naw, I fink mawster Irukaw lefft tem fow me."

            "Don't talk with your mouth full!" Sakura scolded smacking him lightly upside the head.

            "Ow, sorry" Naruto said swallowing. Looking up he saw Master Iruka walking up towards them.

            "Team seven?" The three stood up dusting themselves off slightly.

            "Hey master Iruka, do you know where Kakashi is?" Naruto asked looking up at him. Iruka gave an irritated groan.

            "He was called into see the hokage this morning and was assigned to a level A mission, but he given time to dismiss you beforehand. I guessed as much, so that's why I decided to head down to see if you were all still here waiting for him."

            'You Jerk Kakashi you ditched us!" Sakura's inner Sakura yelled "Well that's understandable, a level A mission is important." She said out loud. "How long is the mission going to take?"

            "Hokage didn't seem too sure about it, but he did say that the three of you would get the day off today and that I would be your sensei starting tomorrow until Kakashi completes the mission." Iruka explained.

            "Hey, do you know what kind of mission?" Naruto asked excitement shining in his eyes. But Iruka shook his head then excused himself. Once he was gone Sakura turned to look at the other two.

            "Well that was rude of him! So what do we do now? Most of the days gone anyway…" The three of them thought for a moment, while they sort of wanted to go home they also wanted to do some training of some kind after sitting for so long. A few minutes passed before Naruto thought something up.

            "Hey, why don't we do our own 'capture the bell training'?" he offered.

            "With what bell and with whom?" Sasuke asked coldly giving the distinct impression that the idea was a bad one.

            "Aw come on, just trust me." He said as he began to walk away waving them to follow him. "Come on, it's not like we really have anything better to do." Sakura looked at Sasuke who just shrugged and followed after Naruto, Sakura following right behind him.

            It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the other side of the lake. Sakura was scolding at Naruto while Sasuke remained quiet while wondering what the mischievous Naruto was up to. Hearing something in the bushes beside him Sasuke turned hand moving instinctively to the shuriken on his belt. But it was only a fox, and a pretty messy looking one at that. Sasuke was half tempted to pick it up and throw it into the lake.

            "Hey there you are." Naruto said running over to the fox who seemed happy to see him.

            "Is this the fox you told us about Naruto? The one you and Kakashi saved from under a tree?" Sakura asked crouching down next to the boy and the fox. Naruto nodded and then removed his headband and tied it around the fox's neck. It looked ridiculous wearing it but the seemingly wild animal simply sat there as if not minding its new accessory in the least. He then took a handkerchief out of one of his many pockets and laced it through but didn't tie it off so that it could be pulled free easily.

            "Instead of 'capture the bell' we shall train with 'capture the handkerchief'!" Naruto said standing up throwing his arms out in triumph.

            "You've got to be kidding me, you really are a dunce." Naruto lowered his arms and looked a bit depressed. The fox looked at Sasuke then walked over to him. Sasuke looked down at the fox as if to ask what it wanted. The fox then reared up on its hind legs to bring its face level with Sasuke's. Before the boy could react the fox nipped Sasuke on the nose before bounding off a few paces out of reach.

            "Are you alright Sasuke??" Sakura asked looking at him kind of worried, Naruto was just laughing himself silly. Growling slightly Sasuke darted forward to grab the handkerchief, but the fox darted to the side leaving Sasuke's hands grabbing at air. Sakura, now behind the fox, tried to sneak up on it in hopes of helping Sasuke. But the fox simply jumped out of reach again. Naruto was now grabbing his sides trying not to laugh so hard. The moment he calmed down enough he joined in with the other two as the three of them now tried to use teamwork to get the handkerchief from the fox.

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This chapter was a bit tricky, I hope I did ok… sorry if it's a bit short. I also hope I didn't confuse people with all the talking going on. More exciting stuff will happen soon I promise, so please stick with me and R&R till then :)


	3. Book or Bell?

Authors Note: Hello! Thank you everyone for your reviews and thanks to those who gave suggestions too, I'm always open for those :). But for now I'm at a lack of words so I'll just give you chapter three :-D

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Kakashi sat perched on a high tree branch looking over the forest that surrounded the Hidden Leaf village. He sighed to himself wondering why he was out here. This was hardly a level 'A' mission; it was probably a 'C' mission at best. The hokage had said there had been reports of unusual happences around the outskirts of the forest and that he wanted him to check it out for a week, basically meaning hang out in the woods watching over everything and not come back home for a week… though he did get to go back if he had anything to report. But that was one of the things that was bugging Kakashi. He had been out here for three days now and there was nothing… nothing! Nothing at all to report. If there was something out here besides himself and what was supposed to be there… it was doing a damn good job of hiding itself. He shook his head and leapt down from the tree deciding it was time to hunt down some dinner. As he looked around he saw what he was certain to be the same fox he and Naruto rescued from under the tree, and in its jaws it held a rabbit. Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the fox with a mild curiosity.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked the fox not really expecting a response. The fox stood up and walked over to him nodding her head up and down jostling the rabbit in its mouth. She sat down in front of Kakashi then looked up at him pawing him gently. Kakashi knelt down then held out a hand to pet her.

"What? What's up with you?" the fox simply pushed the rabbit into his hand and let go before running off into the woods. _Alright then_… Kakashi thought to himself, _a fox is providing me with dinner._ As if that wasn't enough for Kakashi to contemplate over, the fox returned carrying a large branch in its jaws and laid it down in front of him before going off again to get another one. Rather than sit and think about it at that time he went and gathered a few branches himself not wanting to just sit there with a dumfounded look on his face. Not too long later he had gotten a fire going and was cooking the rabbit over it, the fox lying next to him keeping by the fire. Kakashi kept looking from the rabbit to the fox.

"You can't talk can you? Because I don't think I could take another surprise." He asked the fox finally, his voice mild. She just simply looked up at him, obviously understanding, but she ether didn't or couldn't talk. So Kakashi just simply attended to dinner which he served out evenly for the both of them. While it was odd company, Kakashi found it still nice to have… after all it was better than nothing. After they ate the fox curled up next to him and after awhile Kakashi found himself talking to the fox. Fist he just talked about the mission he was currently on at the moment and the irrelevance at it all, then about some of the people he knew about the village and some of the other Jonin and their teams. And the fox seemed to listen through out it all, looking at him in an understanding way until she finally lay her head down on one of his outstretched legs and fell asleep. Kakashi chuckled and petted the top of her head before looking around them. _This seemed a good a place as any to sleep,_ he thought, but to be sure he slipped his head band from over his Sharingan eye and looked around the forest. Nothing at all, but just as he placed his hand over the head band he looked down and thought he saw a bright glimpse of charka. Kakashi looked down at the fox wondering if that's where it came from, but the fox looked plain and simple enough… kind of muddy, like it hadn't groomed itself in a while, but nothing out of the ordinary. Kakashi sighed and just dubbed it to be a figment of his imagination out of the fact that he was so _bored_ out here on his grade 'A' scouting mission. It wasn't too long until Kakashi drifted to sleep his hand resting gently on the foxes head.

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The past few days had been quite different for Team 7. With Master Iruka as their acting sensei till Kakashi got back, they found they only had to wait about five minutes for Iruka to show up and there was no 'capture the bells' or really hard training lessons, just simple every day grade 'D' training missions that made Naruto feel like he was going to go insane from the repetitive boringness of it all. Sakura felt sorry for the energetic blond and often found herself trying to cheer him up. Oddly enough it usually didn't take too much, she just had to say something encouraging to him and he'd grin happily as he did. She even offered to go with him to take food to the fox, even though there was something about the fox that really bugged her. No matter how hard they had tried, they were never able to get the handkerchief back from the fox. It had felt like they were dealing with Kakashi, as they had the same amount of success with the fox as with Kakashi. She had even seen Sasuke use his Sharingan eyes but to no effect. But Sakura just shrugged, for some reason it didn't seem to important to think about. Master Iruka had just left and Naruto was muttering to himself obviously about to throw a fit about today's missions, she couldn't really blame him; their missions had basically consisted of babysitting, weeding, household cleaning chores and alike. It was almost noon and the three were walking over to the bridge after playing with the fox all morning since Master Iruka had told them that their missions would begin at noon since he didn't have any morning training sessions for them. The three walked up to the bridge Naruto and Sakura chattering with Sasuke even joining in the conversation now and then.

"What's up Sakura? Why'd you stop?" Naruto asked when she stopped and simply stared ahead in surprise. Turning to see what she was looking at Naruto saw Kakashi leaning against the bridge railing reading his usual book.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto yelled out as the three of them hurried over.

"Well this is a first; I never thought that I would be the one to wait for the three of you to show up." Kakashi said a smile in his eyes as he put the book away. Naruto laughed and ran over to his teacher stopping only a few inches from him.

"Hey, hey, Kakashi sensei, did you finish your mission early? What was it? Did you have to travel really far from the village? Or or were you stopping a threat that was just outside the gates huh huh?" Naruto asked his teacher in a flurry of words his eyes shining excitedly wanting to know what had gone on.

"Well I'm afraid the mission is not over yet, I was simply allowed a day back to check on you while the Hokage talked to a few of the other Jonin about what's going on, and I'm afraid I can't tell you about the mission Naruto, its classified." Naruto let out a big 'awwww' and slouched down looking at his feet. The mission wasn't exactly classified, but Kakashi didn't exactly want to tell the eager blond that all he'd been doing is hanging around in the forest.

"So what will our first task be today Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well I know you've all had your breakfast… but I'm guessing you haven't had lunch yet am I correct?" Sakura nearly joined Naruto in his disappointment slump. True anything had to be better then the nerve ranking simple tasks they'd been doing lately… but they had been running around nearly all morning.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Come on now everyone." Kakashi called as he walked off.

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"Now I'll set the timer for four o'clock, and this time as a treat I've brought more than just simple box lunches." The three looked up at him curiously as he set the clock down on the stump. "And I've brought three of them too. Forget what I've told you before about this training exercise for just this one time. You see none of you have managed to get a singe bell from me yet, so as a one time motivational treat… if anyone manages to get even one of my bells you all get to eat the lunches I've brought today, how does that sound?" Kakashi didn't even need to wait for a response. Naruto threw his arms around his teachers neck hugging him and thanking him while Sakura jumped up and down.

Three hours had gone past and while their efforts to get the bells had improved greatly with the promise of nice food (especially with Naruto) they still couldn't seem to manage to get the one bell, plus the fact that they had been running around that morning hadn't helped.

"Much better all of you, but your still going to have to pick it up a bit more if your going to get one in the next hour now." The team let out a small sigh and braced themselves ready but faltered when Naruto started shouting and waving his arms at the trees to his left.

"Naruto what are you…" Sasuke began sounding irritated, turning to see what he was looking at he saw the fox sitting in the shade watching them.

"Come on Naruto the fox isn't going to help us." Sasuke chided.

"Hey! Can you come and help us get the bells from Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted causing everyone else to nearly fall over in surprise.

"Naruto, now is not the times for jokes, you have less than an hour left." Kakashi said pulling his book from his side pouch.

"But sensei, you said if anyone gets one of the bells we can have lunch, so why can't she help?" Naruto continued as the fox trotted over to him and began to circle and yip at the blond giving the impression of wanting to help. Kakashi sighed ruffling his hair with his free hand.

"Alright, she can help get the bells."

"Yes! Thank you sensei!" Naruto said joyously and immediately sat down as if he didn't intended to participate anymore.

"Aren't you going to help her Naruto?" Kakashi said, a teasing tone in his voice. Naruto shook his head still grinning. Sasuke, who had been looking from the fox to Kakashi, had been trying to compare the speed of the two in his mind. They had no more managed to get the handkerchief from the fox than they had the bell from Kakashi. _This is going to be interesting_, he thought to himself and sat down next to Naruto propping his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together he rested his head on his fingers. Sakura sat down automatically, almost as if she were just simply going with what the rest of the group was doing. Kakashi just stood there looking at them not sure what to do, so he just gave a small shrug and turned back to his book.

"If that's how you want to spend the last fifty minutes that's up to you, come on then fox, come and get the bells." He said in a mild barely challenging voice. The fox simply pranced over to him and tried to merely reach over and take the bells. Kakashi simply stepped aside. The fox continued in this fashion, simply walking up to Kakashi and trying to take the bells away. Kakashi was beginning to think this was the teams idea of a joke, but then again Naruto was the only one usually in on the jokes, and they all seemed to be watching the fox intently as if they were expecting something to happen.

The fox made a bigger lunge and as Kakashi moved to side step it, she came up short and jumped again but too high. Before Kakashi could move the fox had slid the book from his hands in its jaws and was prancing off with it.

"You're supposed to get the bells." Kakashi said sounding a little exasperated. The fox simply gave a muffled yip its tail waving madly behind it. Not wanting to try and pull his book from between the fox's teeth he turned back to his team.

"Well you have about forty-five minutes left so–" Kakashi stopped short at the sound of growling and tearing. Turning around he saw the fox shaking its head growling causing the pages to tear.

"Hey!" Kakashi leapt hand out to grab the book, but the fox jumped away leaving empty air between his hands. "Come on give it back." He called out and began to run after the fox. The fox, looking quite pleased with herself, turned and ran. The three sat and watched as fox and sensei ran back and forth in front of them, the fox always managing to keep out of Kakashi's reach. Even with the added efforts of a few small techniques… even trying to grab from under ground with the Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu, the fox still somehow managed to leap away just fast enough to miss getting caught. In another run past the three students again, Kakashi was preparing another technique when the fox turned around suddenly and ran right into him. The two tumbled over and over for a few seconds before coming to a stop Kakashi lying on his back the fox sitting on his chest. The fox then gently placed the book down over his face, still open to the page he was at. Kakashi reached for it muttering a small thanks, but before he had even lifted the book from his face he heard a small jingle sound from his side. Quickly taking the book from his face he whirled around and grabbed at his side with his free hand only to see the fox running as quick as it could back to Naruto with both bells in her jaws. Kakashi just sat up looking at the fox stunned as the fox let Naruto take the bells from her then laid down at his feet.

No one said anything for a good while, but after a moment Naruto burst out laughing and began to hugging the fox. Sakura laughed too and petted the fox while giving words of congratulations, even Sasuke gave a small smile and scratched the fox behind one ear. Kakashi simply sat and watched them; that was in no way an ordinary fox. An ordinary fox would not be able to keep out of reach of a Jonin, though he had to admit… the way the fox had gone about getting the bells by getting him to chase her instead of the other way around…. that was intelligent, another uncommon factor of a simple fox. Kakashi reached up with one hand for his headband to see it with his Sharingan eye, but then decided not to bother. He hadn't seen anything last time, so would now be any different? Plus the fox didn't seem like it meant any harm. He stood up and walked over; pocketing the book he looked down at them still congratulating the fox.

"You know you should really give the fox a name Naruto." He suggested simply. Naruto looked up at him then down at the fox who was starting to wiggle slightly due to hold Naruto had around her neck. "But why don't we think about it over lunch hm?" The three gladly agreed as the clock sounded telling them it was four o'clock. Naruto's stomach rumbled in reply as the three of them walked over to where Kakashi usually kept the lunches.

They found he hadn't been kidding about brining something better then boxed lunches. Naruto immediately sat down and grabbed a bowl of ramen while the others took up plates and picked out what they wanted from a variety of sushi, Gyoza, fried Shiitake with green peppers, white rice, soy sauce to go with it all, and of course… ramen. They ate happily, Naruto occasionally giving the fox a dumpling in thanks for helping them win the meal. As they ate the thought of what to name the fox continued through Naruto's mind. Kakashi was right, it's not like he could keep calling her 'fox' the whole time.

"Tao." He said after swallowing a mouthful of noodles and broth. The others looked up at him questioningly. "I'm going to call the fox Tao." He thought that was a good name, he had always liked the name of the girl from his dreams… now it was almost like she was outside his dreams too. _That would be cool_, he thought to himself, _if she was real then all the stuff I was learning in my dreams would be real too._

"Tao it is then." Kakashi said raising his cup like he was making a toast. The others laughed and raised their cups too bumping them together slightly.

---------

By the time Naruto got home it was late, but he didn't really care. Today had been fun, and he had eaten so much that he didn't really care for dinner. He simply got into his pajamas and slipped into bed wondering what kind of mission Kakashi would be returning to the next day.

As he slipped into the familiar grassy planes of his dream world he began to look around for the dream Tao.

"Naruto, good to see you again." She heard him calling from behind him. He turned around and grinned at her

"Hello!" He called to her waving as she walked over. "What are you going to teach me today huh huh?" he asked her excitedly.

"Well," she said smiling down at him "I thought I'd teach you the Zenton Hotarubi." She said smiling down at him.

"What's that? What does it do?" he asked folding his arms across his chest tilting his head to one side.

"It's a technique that allows you to teleport something from one place to another."

"Can I teleport myself from one place to another?" he asked her excitedly.

"Well… that's a very advanced version of it, so for now let's go over the hand techniques and the words you must say while you form the hand sigils." Naruto nodded and for the rest of the dream they drilled the words and hand movements over and over again. In the waking world, while Naruto slept, his fingers twitched as he mumbled in time to the words in his dream.

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Hey everyone! Thanks as always for the reviews…. Sorry this chapter took me a bit, it proved to be a bit tricky so I hope it came out ok ! Please R&R and I'll see you in chapter four.


	4. Wishing you were real

Authors note: Thank you all for your reviews! I forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter that the technique that dream Tao is teaching Naruto is not something you'll find on a list of all shinobi techniques 'cause I made it up! With real Japanese words too…Hehe anyway I'm glad people are enjoying my fan fic… and to show my happiness I shall write chapter four!

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Kakashi walked back to his apartment hands stuffed in his pockets face down as he was lost in thought. There was something odd about that fox, no question about it. When a fox proved able to out maneuver a Jonin… well ok he wasn't going full out against the fox…_but it was a fox_! He thought to himself for what seemed to be like the hundredth time, it wasn't the first time someone had managed to take him by surprise. But it was defiantly the first time he was out smarted by an ordinary animal. Kakashi sighed and unlocked the door to his apartment. Walking in he looked up and around at his apartment, his hand paused in the process of closing the door. He walked back out again and checked the number on the door as if checking he walked into the right apartment. Yep, it was the right number… he walked into the apartment again and looked around with the same expression of disbelief before walking out again to slip his headband from over his eye quickly before replacing it as if to see if anyone had placed a Kokuni Arazu no Jutsu, the False Surroundings Skill technique on the number on the door. But there were no traces of any such thing. Walking back into his apartment he closed the door and looked around. His apartment had been an absolute mess when he had left a few days ago… it even looked like it might've rivaled Naruto's when the hokage had showed it to him before he had even met the boy. But now… his apartment was spotless, everything was clean, neat, and tidy. Even when he tried the apartment was never really that tidy, but this… he would've thought that no one lived here if there wasn't food in the fridge and cupboards. Walking around into each of the rooms he found they were the same. Walking back into the kitchen he pulled out one of the chairs and slouched down into it folding his arms across his chest as he sat back and thought. _Who the heck would bother to come round and clean his place up like this?_ No matter how much he mulled it over in his head he just couldn't place it. So he just stood up and shrugged deciding just to be happy that it had happened. Looking into the fridge he simply pulled out one of the prepared meals that he guessed the same person had left. Deciding to just not think about any of it he simply took off his mask and sat down to eat then took a shower and went to bed before he could discover anything else that had happened to his place while he was away.

---

Naruto awoke yawning widely, he stretched and linked his fingers together before stretching them out in front of him cracking his knuckles. He gave a small half awake grin as he looked at his hands. Thinking back on his dream and tried to mirror the hand sigils he'd just been taught. To his surprise not only did he remember the hand gestures that were needed… but the words too. He grinned and repeated the technique he'd learnt in his dream, after the fifth time he paused and tried to remember what she had said before he woke up… something to complete the technique… ah well! He thought to himself as he got out of bed, it was only a dream so it didn't really matter if he could recall it all or not. That decided he got ready at his usual slow morning pace. As he ate breakfast he realized he was still trying to remember what it was that completed the technique… almost like it was something really important to know. Naruto just growled slightly deciding it was far too early to be trying to think before he placed his bowl in the sink and headed out the door.

Naruto tried his best not to cry or fuss as they returned to the same boring D level tasks that they performed with master Iruka. Naruto could've sworn it had taken a week for that day to end, it was just so different than training with Kakashi Sensei… sure he was hard, but at least he wasn't boring! As Naruto smiled and waved bye to Iruka he turned about to try and talk to Sakura he noticed a large rock in the shape of a box sneaking up behind him. Frowning Naruto started walking around the rock box always following him. Finally he came to a stop and shouted;

"Didn't I already tell you that rocks are not square!"

"…… I suspected nothing less from the best…" a voice from the box said before there was an explosion of far too many smoke bombs being set off as three young kids appeared coughing from the smoke. They looked up from their coughing at Naruto who was grinning down at them.

"Hey boss! You said we could play ninja today!" one of the boys said stepping forward.

"Yeah ninja ninja!" a girl and a boy with glasses chanted in unison.

"Hey Konohamaru…" Naruto said idly placing his hands behind his head as he looked down at them.

"Hey come on don't sound like that boss… you promised to play ninja with us today." The three of them looked up at him with pleading eyes. Naruto chuckled while Sakura and Sasuke looked from him to the kids; Konohamaru was the honored grandson of the lord hokage...

"Well I've had a pretty laid back day… so hey why not?" Naruto said and was answered by the three's joyous cries as they tackled him hugging him in thanks.

"So boss, what will we be learning today?" Konohamaru asked. But before Naruto was able to answer, a tall man with short black hair and sunglasses appeared not too far off.

"Konohamaru! There you are." He said walking over to them "I want you to come with me right now, in fact… I think its best if all three of you come with me."

"No Ebisu! I don't want to!" he shouted as the others nodded agreeing with him.

"You will get away from that _boy_ right now and come with me!" Ebisu said giving Naruto a hateful look causing Naruto to shiver and Sakura and Sasuke to look at Ebisu wondering why it seemed to be such a big deal for the kids to be around Naruto. Ebisu picked up Konohamaru and locked him under one arm before he could get away and then tried to get the other two who were trying to get away and free Konohamaru at the same time.

"You will all come with me right now! I will not allow you to be around this this… miss directed, delinquent, ignorant, poor excuse for a Genin who should not have been allowed to graduate from the ninja academy…" Ebisu continued on as he tried to wrestle the three into his hold while Naruto just stood there and said nothing. Sakura and Sasuke on the other hand were looking at Ebisu in almost complete shock. _What in the world had Naruto done to deserve any of that? _Sakura thought to herself…_sure he acts up and deserves a good scolding sometimes… but this is a bit much!_ Ebisu left with the three Naruto trainees trying their hardest to pry themselves out of the mans hold to no avail while Naruto continued to stand there all the while with an expressionless look on his face as his eyes seemed to be just looking at the air in front of him. Sakura chanced a few steps towards the blonde leaning forward slightly to see his face but he turned his head away.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered softly but was unable to finish as the boy suddenly bolted from the two as fast as he could. Sakura watched him leave before turning to look at Sasuke a sad look in her eyes.

"Sasuke… why do you think Ebisu said that about Naruto? Sure he's a prankster and he acts up a lot…"

"But he always knows where to draw the line… there was really no need or reason for what he said to Naruto." There seemed to be a cold edge to Sasuke's voice his eyes still looking the way Naruto ran. Sure Naruto got on his nerves a lot of the time, but a small mutual respect had grown between the two.

"Let's go after him and take him out for ramen!" Sakura said smiling at Sasuke "I'm sure a couple of bowls of ramen will cheer him up." Sasuke looked at Sakura and gave a small smile.

"No, it's a good idea… but I think Naruto might want to be alone right now." He said as he took one last look down the way Naruto went before turning to walk home. "He might prefer it tomorrow though," He added as an after thought "He'll be more up to it then." Sakura gave a small nod before turning to head home not even thinking about offering to Sasuke that the two of them go off for ramen together.

-----

Everything was a blur around Naruto as he ran home. His teeth and fists were clenched tight as he scolded himself telling himself not to cry. He struggled a few moments with the door to his apartment as his key didn't seem to want to go in the lock nor did his hands want to stop trembling to help it. But finally he was able to throw the door open and close and lock it behind him. He rested his back to the door and slipped down to sit on the floor as he tried to choke back the tears. It was always the way… there was always someone with that hateful look in their eyes, someone who seemed to despise every breath he took… but why? It wasn't his fault… it wasn't. He wasn't the nine tailed fox that had nearly destroyed the village all those years ago… he was Uzumaki Naruto, just like master Iruka said… but he couldn't help it as a few tears fell from his eyes. Pulling his knees up to his chest he wrapped his arms about them as he lowered his face and cried softly and silently to himself before he drifted to sleep where he was.

When Naruto woke in the dream world he felt the sadness had followed him there. Looking around he heard Tao was singing. He had never heard her sing before; she sounded wonderful. Following the sound of her voice Naruto found her sitting by a stream. She smiled as she looked up at him standing next to her, but her smile faded as she looked into his eyes.

"Naruto… what's the matter, what happened?" she asked looking up at him with a worried look. The question almost seemed to bring everything back afresh as Naruto clenched his fists looking down telling himself that he was no more allowed to cry in his dreams than in the waking world. However Naruto opened his eyes in surprise as he found Tao had knelt and had drawn him into a reassuring hug. Gritting his teeth he buried his face in her shoulder and cried as she comforted him much like a mother would her child. As he cried Naruto wondered fleetingly if this was what it was like to have a mother… to have someone to comfort you when you cried…

"I wish you were real…" He sobbed into her shoulder.

"What was that?" she asked kindly

"I wish you were real… I wish you were real." He repeated, meaning every word of it. "I wish you lived outside my dreams… I wish that more than you helping me to be hokage…" he sniffed before continuing "I can make hokage by myself if I try… but..." a sob racked his throat as she petted his back reassuringly.

"You want me to be real…" she said softly eyes staring into the distance. Naruto nodded before letting go and smiling at her as she helped him wipe his tears away.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to cry anymore." He said grinning at her; he did actually feel a bit better after having someone to cry with instead of alone as always.

"Shall we continue with out practice from before?" she asked smiling at him.

"Yes please! Oh yeah… what was that last bit you told me, what I need to do to complete the technique?" he asked smiling impishly. She chuckled at him as she stood up.

"You need to say the name of what it is you want to teleport and picture in your mind where you want to send it to, but only if you can't see where you want to send it too. Now… why don't we try teleporting something, something small to begin with of course… like some of the pebbles from the bottom of the river." Naruto grinned and nodded and he spent the rest of the dream trying to teleport pebbles from below the waters surface to above it.

---

Kakashi sat up straight in his bed looking around as if suspecting an attack. He was certain he had just felt a large pulse of charka. He tried to calm down his breathing as it came apparent that he must've been dreaming. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead he got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom to shower making sure to take longer than usual to get ready that morning not really liking the idea that he was going back to his post in the woods. Despite his efforts he was still out the door by nine am, he blamed this mainly on whatever the heck it was that caused him to wake up so darn early. As he walked slowly over to the main gates he thought he heard someone call out his name. Turning to see who it was he gave an exasperated sigh, it was Gai.

"Kakashi! Good morning! My it's a rarity to see you up and about so early this morning… not heading somewhere to get there on time now are you?" he asked in a bright voice as he walked up to Kakashi.

"Hey Gai… yes I'm just off somewhere."

"Well if your not too busy Kakashi… perhaps we should try and tilt the score some more eh?" he said raising his large fuzzy eyebrows inquiringly as he held his chin in his fingers.

"Well actually Gai-" Kakashi said holding up his hands not really feeling like it.

"What's the matter? Is the great Kakashi afraid of losing yet another battle to me?" Gai asked a slight taunt in his voice. Kakashi sighed, but before he was able to try and talk Gai out of having a bout an angelic voice interjected into their conversation.

"Excuse me," The two turned to look at the speaker. The woman's emerald eyes were the first thing that caught Kakashi's attention. His eyes then wandered to her long yellow black tipped hair. She wore a simple white shirt with a pair of dark rust colored red pants and a pair of simple boots, but Kakashi thought she turned them into the most beautiful garments ever. He looked back to her face and was caught again by her beautiful eyes that seemed to have an edge of yellow to them in the center. She had a pair of small but full lips, a cute nose… taking a quick side glance at Gai he noticed he was just as taken by the young woman as he was. Blinking he tried to gather himself not wanting to be the awe struck fool.

"Yes, my name is Kakashi, how can I help you?" he asked her kindly, Gai's head snapped around to look at Kakashi's singular use in his question and frowned.

"I am looking for an apartment complex, I just came here to Konohagakure village and I'm not too sure where everything is." She said smiling at him. It was all Kakashi could do to keep himself together. Kakashi looked at Gai who seemed about to try and pull off some sort of supposed 'cool' maneuver or line, but Kakashi grinned and said quickly:

"I have some free time, I would be more than happy to show you around." He said his smile showing in his eyes.

"Hang on Kakashi don't you have to go…"

"You know I'm early Gai…" Kakashi said a slight taunt in his voice "and besides, you have your team to oversee don't you?" Gai looked a bit taken aback and before he could come up with any remark Kakashi turned back to the woman and gave her a polite bow. "If you would please follow me?" he asked sweeping a hand out beside him almost as if he were addressing someone of royalty. She smiled and giggled.

"I would be most happy to." She said. The two of them walked off leaving a very confused and put out Gai behind who simply walked off muttering to himself something along the lines of… 'You've won this time Kakashi… but I'll get you next time.'

Kakashi pointed out almost anything of any relevance as they walked along. He tried to place her age as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, she seemed to have the youthful look of someone about eighteen or nineteen years of age… but there seemed to be some depth of wisdom and intelligence in her eyes that told Kakashi not to judge her age just yet. After a few moments of walking Kakashi remembered she was looking for an apartment complex and asked her which one it was. To his surprise it was the same one Naruto lived in, he momentarily wondered whose hair was more yellow, Naruto's or this woman's. She continued to ask questions to which he happily explained until they reached the check in of the apartment complex.

"Ah miss… we've been waiting for you, here is your key." The man said handing her a key. Kakashi thought it was a bit odd for the man not to ask for her name, but then again there was probably no one else who looked like her to confuse her with… so Kakashi didn't pay it any more mind.

"Thank you so much for showing me the way here Kakashi, I apologize if I took up too much of your time." She said turning to him once they reached her room.

"No problem at all I was happy to help." He said smiling as he ruffled his hair with one hand.

"Could you perhaps show me the rest of the village another time? I don't know anyone here, so if it's not too much to ask…"

"No no! No trouble at all, I would be most happy to show you around any time you like." If it wasn't for the mask she would've seen him grinning happily.

They said goodbye with the agreement to catch up in a few days. Kakashi walked back over to the gate almost skipping, though it wasn't till he got through the gate that he realized he had completely forgotten to ask her what her name was. Smacking himself on his forehead he scolded himself for rambling on when he could've been asking her about herself. Like her name, where she came from, and how long she intended to stay. There was something about her that seemed to intrigue him. She stayed in his thoughts all the way out to the forest where he simply walked up a tree and sat in one of its higher branches giving him a good outlook. Drawing one leg up, he folded his arms and rested them on his knee as he prepared for another boring day.

She stood still on the other side of the door as she listened to Kakashi's footsteps fade as he walked away. The moment she was sure he was gone she began to giggle, then laugh as she ran into the room and twirled about on one foot throwing her arms out wide joyously. She had done it… she thought she would fail… that she'd be caught… but she had done it! She gave a yelp of surprise as she fell her balance wavering as she landed smack on the floor. She sat there still grinning happily as she closed her eyes and rubbed them with her palms. Opening her eyes they had turned back to their usual yellow. She sighed as she lay down on the floor staring up to the ceiling. _Ahh… so tired…_ she thought to herself. It was one thing to change shape in a dream projection, and another to change her solid form in the waking world. Raising her hand to run her fingers through her hair she brought it up to her eyes to examine it inquisitively. She still wasn't sure she'd gotten all the mud and dirt out of her hair… but if Naruto was to recognize her and that she was the same person from her dream then she had to look herself… her human self anyway. She sighed and relaxed letting her hair slip from her fingers as her hand rested back by her side. As she lay there her hair began to grow and weave over her skin, her body seemed to shrink as she curled over on one side. Her ears lengthened while her fingers shortened and her nails curled like claws. She lay still for a moment before a yellow fox with black tips on its ears and nose and black socks on its feet and… two tails behind it? One of them looked bigger and bushier than the other. Turning to her tails she sat and washed them, and as she did a silvery mist drifted from her mouth to cover her tails. Once she was done she waved a now singular tail. Walking over to the bedroom she jumped up on the bed and circled a few times before lying down curled up in the center. While her solid form was far too tired to go looking for anyone… she could always send her dream projection out to find Naruto then go to him in solid form once she knew where he was. That decided Tao left the waking world and began to run the streets of Konohagakure village like a phantom spirit.

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AH HAH Chapter four! Hope that wasn't too long… I was going to cut it short somewhere in the middle and make it two separate chapters… but it wasn't quite long enough for that… ah well! Hope you enjoy it anyway and please R&R as always : )


	5. an unfortunet turn of events

Authors Note: Hey all! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I blame school and work mostly. Ah but anyway, you don't want to know why I haven't been here you want chapter 5! Hehe, well thanks to everyone as always for reviews and I hope you enjoy chapter 5.

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Naruto walked along staring down at the foot path not paying too much attention to where he was going and not really caring either. The sun was already starting to rise but there was still some mist lingering about. This was the earliest Naruto had been up on a Saturday. Usually if he didn't have to be up for practice he liked to sleep in, but he had woken up early that morning and found it impossible to go back to sleep. So rather than stay in bed thinking he decided to go for a stroll.

"Hey Naruto!" a voice called out to him brining him back from the depths of his thoughts. Looking up he saw Sakura waving her arm madly above her as if he might overlook her if she didn't; Sasuke followed in tow hands fisted in his pockets as usual. Naruto smiled and raised his hand high to show he'd noticed them. Sakura smiled and lowered her hand and grabbed Sasuke's wrist and ran over to Naruto.

"Good morning Naruto!" Sakura said happily stopping in front of him releasing Sasuke's wrist in the process.

"How funny to see you awake so early." Sasuke said grinning at Naruto crossing his arms over his chest.

"Good morning! What are you guys doing?" he asked grinning, to tell the truth he was happy to see them, even if Sasuke had accepted one of Sakura's date proposals and they were off to spend the day together… he didn't care, he was just happy to run into people he could consider friends. True he wished it was a bit more than that with Sakura and he might not openly admit right away that he was friends with Sasuke… but that was beside the point.

"Well…" Sakura said smiling linking her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly towards Naruto "I thought it would be fun if the three of us went on a picnic, along with Tao too of course."

"Really!" Naruto asked, his face beaming like he had just won a lifetimes supply of ramen. Sasuke grinned and nodded.

"You got it; we were just going to go get you before going 'round to the ramen shop for supplies." Sasuke said still standing with his arms folded nonchalantly over his chest. It wasn't usually like Sasuke to be openly nice, but Naruto didn't care… he was on cloud ten and no one was brining him down!

The three of them went off and purchased a few bowls of ramen, Sakura had brought a flask with her which the shop owner filled with hot water. So we wont have to worry about the ramen getting cold, Sakura explained with a smile. Once that was done the three of them headed out towards the lake. Naruto was carrying the ramen still feeling on top of the world. Sakura was talking to him about lessons and trying to figure out with Naruto what Kakashi's mission could possibly be. Sasuke, however, was looking around them. It was almost noon and there were still traces of morning mist about them. It was thicker out here… away from the village. Sasuke didn't like this, not one bit. He was contemplating about telling his team mates about it, but wasn't too sure if he should. It couldn't be too serious, not this close to the village anyway. Any attack would never be made so close to the village without the Hokage knowing it and dispatching the necessary forces to take down the threat.

"Hey Sasuke, you still with us?" Sasuke looked up at Naruto who was smiling over at him. "You haven't said a word since you ordered your ramen, you doing alright?"

"I'm fine." He said coolly. Naruto just grinned and went back to talking to Sakura; he had long since gotten used to such responses from Sasuke and didn't take them quite as seriously as he once did.

"Hey what's that?" Naruto said stopping in his tracks.

"What's what?" Sakura asked looking around trying to see something that would grab the attention of her short attention spanned friend.

"Here" He said handing the bag of ramen to Sakura and running over to tall tree with its base mostly hidden by bushes. Lying on his stomach he reached under the bushes while the other two crouched next to him waiting to see what it was he had found. Pulling his arm back out he pushed himself up and back to sit down with Sasuke and Sakura on either side of him. The three of them stared at Naruto's find. Held tight in his hand Naruto held a Hitai-ate head band with fresh blood splashed over the leaf symbol. Sakura gasped and stood up looking around as if trying to see if she could find the one who owed the headband. Sasuke remained crouching, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them, his Sharingan eyes glaring he looked around them.

"Something's wrong… something is very wrong." He whispered just loud enough for his team mates to hear. Naruto stood up trying to look casual, not dropping the headband and placed one hand on his hip, his fingertips reaching carefully for the Kunai in his side pouch.

"Sasuke…" Sakura whispered not moving an inch save for her eyes that darted from side to side as if trying to detect an illusion. "What's going on?"

"We're outside the village." He stated simply under his breath, his eyes searched their surroundings carefully.

"Wait a second… how could we be outside the village? We never left the main gates." Naruto whispered in disbelief as he shifted on his feet to a more ready stance.

"I don't know how… all I know is that on our way out we were somehow transported outside the village… far, outside the village." Sakura and Naruto would've liked to have asked Sasuke more, but the sudden rain of Kunai and Shuriken cut them short as they all dived aside in an effort to try and doge and deflect the attacks.

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Kakashi woke with his head pounding, keeping his eyes closed he did a mental check on his charka levels. They were dangerously low, which was strange because he was certain he hadn't used that much of it earlier. Trying to move Kakashi found that his legs and arms would not comply; he was bound standing his back pressed against a wall. Opening his eyes he blinked a few times to clear the blood from his vision then closed his left eye. He couldn't quite remember when he'd lost the headband; he had been too occupied to really notice. Now he wished he had paid a little more attention, his Sharingan eye would drain what small amount of charka he was left with if he wasn't careful.

"So your finally awake, how do you feel?" Kakashi looked up to see a tall figure walking towards him. He was covered from head to foot in folds of black and red cloth making it hard to tell whether or not the man was lean or muscular. He wore a pair of boots that seemed to be made entirely of metal that he walked in with ease without making the slightest sound. His headband was low over his eyes, Kakashi even wondered if the man could see him wearing it that low, the wavy lines of the water country were printed on the front. The mans hair was long down to his shoulders and was black and red like the rest of him. The lower part of his face was bandaged but did not seem to hinder either his breathing or his talking. After taking the man in Kakashi said nothing in reply to his question and simply stared at him. The man chuckled and walked over to Kakashi. "Not in the mood to talk I see… though I suppose you want to know where you are and why we captured you and brought you here…" The man's voice was deep and had a sound like steel being drawn over stone.

"I may not know who you are, but I know what you are." Kakashi said his voice cool and in control, almost as if he held a greater advantage than he truly did at that moment. "You are a shinobi of the Hidden Mist Village." The man simply chuckled.

"I'm sorry my friend but your assumption is incorrect." He said an evil glint in his eyes as he tilted his head back slightly and looked at Kakashi "Why don't you open your left eye and find out the truth?" Kakashi had no intentions of complying and simply looked at the man who simply shrugged when Kakashi didn't move.

"Though I will tell you this much for free… there is no use trying to escape, the crystal that binds you will keep your charka drained to the near last drop to ensure that you won't be of any trouble." He sneered "Oh and you can call me Hitojo… Kakashi." Kakashi didn't appear surprised in the least, and in truth he wasn't really, if they though he was someone else they may not have gone to such an effort to restrain him. Before Hitojo could say anything more a younger looking man ran through the wall, obviously an illusion there to mask any exits, and up to Hitojo who stood up to face the young man. He was dressed much like Hitojo except he wore his headband like a belt and his face was uncovered. Staring at the belt Kakashi realized that it didn't bear the same symbol as Hitojo's but instead bore the symbol of Hidden Sand Village. The man spoke softly and quickly then left the same way he had come in.

"Well Kakashi, it seems you might be having some company soon." He turned and left, leaving Kakashi to wonder.

After Hitojo had left Kakashi looked down. Sure enough there was a white diamond-like crystal attached from his knees down and seemingly into the stone floor; his hands were the same. He gave each limb a small tug knowing any effort above that would be just as useless. He gave a small sigh and cast his sight downward as he tried to take in everything that had happened since that morning. He had been taken completely by surprise while sitting atop a tree on the outskirts of the village and didn't even get the chance to remove his headband from over his Sharingan. Luckily he was saved the need when a Kunai sliced past him through flesh and fabric giving him a momentary advantage.

Kakashi stopped in mid-thought, the crystal had just grown. He had felt some of his charka replenishing itself, but as it did the crystal drew it out of him and expanded. Kakashi's mind began to swim as he tried to contemplate a way to get out along with possibly another person. Kakashi hoped that whoever it was was a capable shinobi who would not be bound the same way he was. On top of that his mind insisted on trying to figure out what it was that could possibly bring the mist and sand villages together…

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Sakura screamed as Naruto tackled her to aside to stop her from being hit from a large oncoming fireball. They were both bleeding fairly badly from several Kunai and Shuriken that they yet had time to remove. Sasuke had been relentlessly attacking any of the masked ninja's within reach and going after those that weren't. Pulling Sakura to her feet the ground suddenly lurched beneath them causing them to fall forward again.

"Sakura… Sakura! We've got to get up, come on!" He pleaded with her trying to help her to her feet but she seemed unable to comply, she was beginning to look pale from blood loss and overuse of charka. Spinning around Naruto saw a ninja take to the air as he reached behind his back and pulled forth a Fuuma Shuriken. Twisting back the man launched it at the two with such speed and strength Naruto knew he couldn't move Sakura out of the way in time, he had to do something! He thought furiously. Before he knew what he was doing he brought his hands up and quickly recited the words that went with the hand motions.

"Zenton Hotarubi!" He cried out flinging his arms out in front of him as if in hopes of turning the Evil Wind Throwing Star back to its owner. Time seemed to slow to a stop for a sheer brief moment as Naruto momentarily cursed himself for using a technique that only existed in his dream. Then, without warning, the star seemed to shimmer with a blue light and before either Naruto or the ninja could blink the star when whirling back to him. The star sliced through the ninja who seconds later turned into a log through the substitution technique.

_It worked…_ Naruto didn't give himself time to contemplate this but simply began to repeat it over and over again sending any oncoming missile attack back to its source. _Ok_, Naruto thought to himself, _as long as I can keep this up I just have to get Sasuke's attention and we can…_ Naruto swung his head around looking for Sasuke but couldn't see him anywhere.

"Sasuke! SASUKE!" Naruto cried out between incantations but he heard no reply.

"Naruto…? What's wrong, where's Sasuke?" Sakura had finally gotten to her feet and had rested a hand on his shoulder as she looked around for the raven haired boy. Naruto shook his head and didn't reply, the last he had seen Sasuke he had been plowing into the fight on his own and was holding himself up pretty well against them. As Sakura screamed Naruto turned around and shoved Sakura out of the way of an on coming flame thrower attack but was unable to get out of the way himself. Naruto's world blacked out around him before he had even hit the ground.

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"Naruto, Naruto wake up."

"Huh…?" Naruto blinked and rubbed his eyes. Looking up he saw Tao looking down at him. "NO! I can't be asleep; I have to wake up Sakura's in trouble!" Naruto cried standing up so fast he lost his balance and promptly fell back down again.

"Naruto calm down its going to be alright." Tao said resting a hand on his shoulder.

"No, no its not. I couldn't see Sasuke anywhere, Sakura's taken a lot of damage and I'm sleeping!" he said crossing his arms over his chest as he sat there pouting.

"First of all," She said raising a finger pointing it at him "you're unconscious; second… you will only be so for a few seconds longer." Naruto looked up at her slightly confused, with no onslaught of attack raining down on him at that exact second he finally registered the shock of the Zenton Hotarubi technique actually working.

"Hey hang on! That technique you taught me… it worked! I did it, I threw all the weapons back… but why did it work?" Naruto asked cutting himself off. Tao just smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Now's not the time to be asking that Naruto, now you need to wake up and don't worry… I will be there shortly to help you ok?" she said smiling at him. She then leaned over and kissed him on his forehead. A feeling of electricity flowed through him making him shiver. Closing his eyes for a moment he reopened them again to see sky above him. Turning over he saw Sakura screaming in the hold of one of the ninjas who was doing his best to carry Sakura off while she screamed in his ear. Two other ninja's were walking towards him hands moving as they chanted in unison. Naruto's anger at Sakura being captured made something inside him grow. He felt a tug at his navel as a growl escaped his lips. He readied himself on all fours as the two continued to walk towards him unaware of what was about to happen.

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Authors note: Hey, sorry it was a bit short… hope its still ok. Ah well please R&R and I shall return with chapter six ASAP. Oh, and I own Hitojo he's an original char. Not a Naruto char. Bye for now!


	6. In the waking world

Authors note: Hey everyone! Back again! Thanks for all the reviews I love reading reviews; they're always motivation for me to keep writing. And thanks to yourbonesakin for pointing out an oppse or two ;; it was an oppse with the eye, though with Guy and Gai, I had to take the spell check off that before Word would leave it alone :-p ah but enough of my excuses and such… you don't want to read about all this do you? Naw you want the next chapter am I right? Well here you go and hope you enjoy Chapter 6!

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Sakura screamed as she kicked and fought against the ninja who was doing his best to hold onto her. Looking up at Naruto she tried to call out to him, telling him not to do anything foolish and to go get an adult's help. But ether Naruto didn't hear or he chose not to. He continued to stand stock still hands fisted at his sides, his face looking down almost as if he was unaware of the approaching ninja. Sakura was about to try yelling at Naruto again to convince him to run and get help but the ninja placed a cloth over her mouth smothering whatever she was about to say. Taken by surprise Sakura inhaled sharply and realized her mistake too late. The chloroform took effect almost immediately; as everything began to black out around her Sakura found it funny that instead of worrying about Sasuke, she was worrying about Naruto.

The two ninja continued to walk towards Naruto slowly, still chanting and performing hand sigils. They had only been requested to bring back three from the leaf village, which mean this boy was simply going to have to be a casualty. Naruto gritted his teeth as his anger flowed through him, looking up he glared at the ninja with eyes of a demon fox. As Naruto yelled out in anger the powers of the demon fox began to break free of its prison even more. The power surged up and around Naruto in a swirling mass of evil charka. Before the two ninja had time to register the big mistake they had made Naruto lunged at one of them striking him back, fist clenched, with all his might. The ninja crashed threw two solid trees before stopping with a crash on the third. The second ninja finished his technique and launched Katon at Naruto. Turning to the oncoming attack Naruto simply raised his hands and blocked each ball of flame with his bare hands. Without pause, Naruto launched himself at the ninja who was trying to run away after seeing a boy stop a fire attack with his bare hands. Naruto caught up to him in seconds and grabbed the man by the ankle and swung him high over his head and back around to slam him into the ground.

Looking around Naruto found that the ninja who was holding Sakura was gone. Growling he dropped to all fours and began to sniff around, searching for the mans scent. Within seconds he had found it and dashed off after him. In his current heightened state it didn't take Naruto long to catch up to the ninja and tackle him to the ground. Walking over to where Sakura had fallen, Naruto placed a gentle hand to her cheek. Her breathing was shallow, and she didn't wake up when Naruto called her name. Turning to look at the fallen ninja who had tried to kidnap her he snarled,

"What did you do to Sakura? You'll pay for hurting her!" he picked the man up and began to tighten his grip around his neck, his claws began to press into the mans skin drawing blood. _You'll pay_, he thought to himself as he felt his hatred and the strength the demon fox gave him flow to his arms. A hand reached into his vision to take a hold of one of his arms gently.

"No Naruto let him go." Without pausing to see who was trying to stop him Naruto simply clenched his fist and swung it round full force connecting with the person next to him sending them flying. Dropping the man Naruto dashed over to where the person had fallen, wanting to teach them a lesson for trying to stop him from avenging his friend Sakura. Naruto stopped short as he looked down at the still figure lying on the ground. Long yellow black tipped hair lay strewn across her face. Her eyes were closed and she had a peaceful look on her face. She wore a simple white tunic, a pair of blue jeans, and her feet were bare. Naruto swallowed hard as he felt his rage leave him as well as the borrowed strength from the Kyuubi drain away. It was Tao… there was just no mistaking it. Naruto slumped down to his knees not sure what to do. He was surprised to see her, while he was still awake anyway. _But she said she was coming to help… and is it really that surprising after I used the technique she taught me countless times?_ This was seemingly too much for Naruto to compute right now. The moment he stopped trying to figure out how she could be here in the real world and in his dreams, he realized he had just slammed the living daylights out of her.

"T…Tao? Tao I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… please wake up." Naruto pleaded as he gently shook her shoulder. After a moment she opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Looking around then up at Naruto she smiled and tried to sit up.

"Are you alright Naruto?" she asked as the blonde helped her. _Am I ok? What about her I just punched her lights out… why isn't she mad at me?_ Naruto wondered as he looked at her blankly not sure what to say.

"I take it the powers of the Kyuubi have left you then." She said with a smile. Naruto simply looked at her in shock. He wasn't sure what to be surprised about more; the fact that she knew about the fox, or the fact that she didn't seem to mind that it was there… or the fact that she was there.

"Wait… you know? But how…" Naruto managed to stammer.

"Naruto, look into my eyes and tell me what you see." Naruto leaned forward slightly and looked into her yellow eyes. As he looked, he could've sworn he saw a yellow fox lying asleep behind her eyes, almost as if it was expecting to be woken up any moment.

"I see the same thing in your eyes; I see the nine tailed fox asleep within you."

"But wait a minute… I mean… how did you get in my dreams… your really real aren't you? And and…" Tao laughed and held up her hand.

"One thing at a time please, one thing at a time. Do you remember not too long ago when you found a fox trapped under a tree?" Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, Kakashi helped me save it."

"Well that was me, except I was all covered in mud so you couldn't see my yellow pelt." She said with a smile. Naruto's eyes widened as everything fell into place in his mind. If he hadn't found her then, she may've been crushed under the tree. Since he had saved her life, well… she wanted to repay him he guessed. So she had visited him in his dreams and asked him what it was he wanted, he said to be Lord Hokage so she had begun to train him. But when he said he'd changed his mind… he looked up at Tao. While he understood, to some extent, what was going on, he still had thousands of questions that he wanted to ask her. However before one of them was able to make its way to his lips he flung his arms around her neck hugging her tight.

"I'm really glad you're here…" He whispered into her hair.

"Me too" She replied as she hugged him back. Releasing him she looked over to the still sleeping Sakura then back to Naruto.

"I'm afraid there's not enough time to explain things to Sakura right now… Naruto, do you have the headband you picked up from before?" Rather than ask how she knew Naruto handed her the blood spattered Hitai-ate headband.

"Can you tell whose it is?" Naruto asked as she took it. Looking at the headband Tao sniffed it slightly eyes slightly closed in thought as she tried to see if she knew whom this belonged to. Her eyes widened in recognition as she looked at Naruto.

"Kakashi… it belongs to your sensei Kakashi." Naruto tried to smile and shook his head.

"Naw… you've got to be wrong, there's no way Kakashi would ever…" His words trailed off as she shook her head.

"There's no mistaking it I'm afraid… though I do wish I was wrong." She said calmly as she pinched the tear together she blew on it gently.

"Can you mend the tear with charka?" Naruto asked curiously as he watched her.

"No, I'm using a small amount of electricity in hopes that it will act like static and keep the two pieces together." _That's got to be strong static…_Naruto thought to himself. Wiping the blood off Tao tied the headband around her head. She chuckled slightly at Naruto's confused look.

"I've got a plan to get our friends back, but for now let's wake up Sakura." Naruto nodded and walked back over to where the girl lay still sound asleep.

"Yeah? You know how we're going to find the enemy's secret base and everything?" Naruto asked excitedly as he placed a hand gently on Sakura's shoulder.

"You could say that… you might say the enemy's going to lead us right there." She said with a smile. Naruto gave her a blank look but went back to trying to wake up Sakura when he found out that she had no intention of telling him anything more just yet.

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Kakashi came back to the waking world with a heavy sigh. With his charka levels constantly low, it was hard for him to stay conscious, and thus keep track of how long he had been imprisoned for. He closed his eyes wishing partly that he was still asleep. In his dreams he was back in the village taking the beautiful girl he had met for a tour of the village. He was just about to ask her name when he had woken up, ah well not like it mattered anyway; any name he gave her in his dreams didn't dismiss the fact that he didn't know it in the waking world. Feeling like he was being watched Kakashi opened his right eye and looked around he saw Hitojo standing in front of a stone table looking over at Kakashi.

"It must be annoying not having enough charka to stay awake with." Hitojo said chuckling, a slight sneer in his voice.

"What is it that you're trying to accomplish here Hitojo, what is your goal?" Kakashi asked his voice calm and unwavering like before.

"Goal?" Hitojo asked smirking, a glint of madness in his eyes. "I'm afraid I have no goal Kakashi." He said with a chuckle that made Kakashi wonder further about the sanity of his captor. "Ahh but I have some good news for you Kakashi; you've now got a cellmate – although I'm afraid he won't be awake to talk to you." Smirking at Kakashi's questioning look he stepped aside so that Kakashi could see who lay on the stone table. _No, it couldn't be…_Kakashi thought to himself opening both eyes to make sure. But there was no mistaking it; it was Sasuke who lay unconscious on the stone table.

The raven haired boy looked pale and beaten with a streak of blood flowing from his mouth and head down his cheek. Hitojo grinned and turned to Kakashi who had to fight to keep his face blank. If Hitojo knew the boy meant something to him he would use that to his advantage.

"He may just be a boy, but he holds the Advanced Bloodline eye ability, Sharingan. And the boy has potential… he is brimming with possibilities."

"And I suppose you intend to guide him in the right direction." It wasn't a question; Kakashi was certain that was what he was getting at. Before he closed his Sharingan eye he looked at Hitojo's headband. The wavering lines that represented the ninja of the hidden mist village shimmered then faded showing a blank headband. Closing his left eye he saw the hour glass symbol of the hidden sand village ninja, however Kakashi now knew that Hitojo wasn't from the Wind country ether.

"You catch on quick Kakashi, you catch on quick." Hitojo said. Reaching into his pocket he drew out a handful of white dust and threw it over Sasuke.

"I'll drain this boy completely before I begin his training however." Before Kakashi could question what the man was talking about Hitojo left through the hidden door.

_This is great… this is just fantastic! _Kakashi thought angrily to himself. With Sasuke here, how long would it take for the squabbling duo known as Naruto and Sakura to end up here too. Kakashi strained to wrench himself free of the crystal, but the crystal on his arms had reached his shoulders and was beginning to creep over his chest, and the crystal on his legs had reached his waist. He had no idea what would happen when the crystal completely engulfed him, but he was sure he didn't want to find out. He also wanted to see if Sasuke was alright, he didn't like the dust that Hitojo had thrown on his student. Not only that but he had a good bet that powder was the beginning of the crystal prison. While he had no idea what he was going to do or how he was going to do it, he was going to get Sasuke out of this mess. He would never let his students down; it was his job to protect them until they were experienced enough to do it themselves, and he was damned if he was going to let some blasted charka draining crystal get in his way of doing so.

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Authors note: AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter! And I'm sorry it's not that long ether. TT but I hope you still enjoy the chapter Oh, and midterms are over so I'll probably have the next chapter up before finals swing 'round. Till then, please R&R. Oh, and if some of you could give me some suggestions on paring? I've already got a good idea of who I'm going to throw together but I'm not 100 decided on some of them so I thought I'd ask the readers who they think should go together. Thanks if you add this into your review

Till next time!


	7. Reinforcements

Authors Note: I AM SO SORRY for taking so long getting this chapter up. My comp lost its connection to the internet and has only just gotten it back. So why didn't I copy it to a disk or something and put it on another comp and upload it from there? I tried and it didn't work TT I am cursed with a cursed computer… oh well I've got ch.7 here and that's all that matters . Also I know it's a bit late but Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, happy holidays and everything else to all my readers! Hope you all have a great holiday and an even better new year. And as always, thanks for all the reviews and suggestions. I think I've almost made up my mind about who I'm going to put with who… but I'm definitely still open for suggestions so let me know ok? Thanks a bunch and on to chapter 7!

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Naruto and Sakura sat on opposite sides of a small fire staring into the flames lost in thought. Around them was a ring of symbols that they were told would hide them from sight as long as they didn't move around too much or make too much noise. Sakura was mainly worried about Sasuke; all she could think about was when she would see her love again, and perhaps once he had defeated the one's who had taken him he would let her go out with her…

Naruto's thoughts were on something a little more important. He kept going over in his head what happened earlier that day feeling like he had missed something.

_Flashback_

They had managed to wake up Sakura without any trouble. Naruto quickly said that Tao was a Jonin who had arrived just in time to save them. Tao was a bit surprised at this but didn't see any point in saying otherwise just yet.

"Well as long as you two are alright, we should start heading back to the village…" Tao began but Naruto quickly jumped in.

"Wait a minute! You're not planning on taking us back to the village and leaving us there while you go tracking are you?"

"No! We have to come with you to get Sasuke back!" Sakura quickly added, not liking the idea she might be away from her dark mysterious teammate for so long.

"Well, you see it's just that-"

"NO!" They both shouted in unison, looking at Tao with such determinism that she felt like it was going to be impossible to convince them otherwise. So she simply gave a soft sigh and nodded.

"Well… alright then, if you're sure…" The two cheered and thanked her repetitively. "Alright alright now, calm down. First thing that needs to be done needs to be done fast and as silently as possible." the pair both fell silent eager to show that she wouldn't regret letting them tag along. "Check the pockets of all of the ninja's look only for scrolls that either holds a map or a list of names and bring them to me – leave anything else you may find." The three of them immediately split up to search.

Not too long later both Sakura and Naruto ran to find Tao each clutching a scroll in their hands.

"Sensei Sensei! We found what you told us to look for!" Sakura called out waving her scroll above her head excitedly. Tao smiled and raised a finger to her lips asking Sakura to be just a little bit quieter. Sakura blushed and handed over her scroll. Taking both the scrolls, she held them between her middle and index fingers. She spoke softly, reciting the necessary words for the technique. Drawing one hand away from the scroll, the two were surprised to see a black slivery thread leading from the scrolls to her fingertips. She then placed her fingertips on her forehead where the black charka thread shone brightly for a moment before disappearing. Smiling she handed the scrolls back.

"It's a memorization technique," she explained to the confused pair. "It allows me to perfectly recall what is written without ever having to read it. Now quickly go and put these back on the ninja you found them on, they cannot know they were ever missing." She then reached into her pocket and took out four stones and offered them to Naruto who took them and placed them in one of his many pockets. "Now, once that's done I need you to head South West. I need to head back to the village to see if I can recruit some more help." Sakura nodded; while she didn't like the idea of walking outside of the village without a Jonin made her slightly uneasy, but she could see the sense in what she was saying.

"Of course! You will need help from more than a couple of kid's right sensei?" Sakura asked. Tao simply gave her a funny smile.

"But you are not children, and that kind of help is just the kind we will need." Neither Sakura nor Naruto knew what to say to that. "Oh, and as for the stones I just gave you. When night begins to fall, gather some wood and make a small fire, only when you are certain that you will not need to leave from around the fire place one at the four compass points around you and the fire. The stones are spelled with a concealing technique; no one will see you or the fire as long as you don't move around much and keep your voices down." She added. So they quickly returned the scrolls and headed off, Naruto following Sakura because she had a better idea of which way South West was.

_End flashback._

Perhaps it was how she said it, more than what was said. "Hey Sakura?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked, coming out of her daze.

"You remember what Tao said before she left? About our kind of help being the kind she needs?" Sakura nodded. "What do you think she meant by that?" he asked looking up from the flames.

"Well… I'm sure we'll find out soon, she said she'd be back before too late." Sakura said softly making sure to keep her voice down, but still loud enough for Naruto to hear over the soft crackle of the fire. "She'll show up with other Jonin and we'll go and get Sasuke back." Naruto wasn't too sure if he should fill her in on the fact that the ones who took Sasuke also got Kakashi. But deciding that that would only make her worry more he decided not to. He didn't want her to worry, so he simply agreed and added another branch to their small fire.

---

Tao stood on the rooftop of a tall building looking down at everyone walking about below her. She hadn't really been in a city for ages; it was slightly unnerving to be walking around so many people so she had decided to keep to the rooftops. Also she didn't want to risk being noticed as a stranger in the village. She was almost certain that in a town like this everyone had to know everyone to some extent. Plus with her yellow hair she'd stand out like a dandelion in a patch of violets.

She turned her thoughts back to her task at hand; the two lists that Naruto and Sakura had brought her had told her two things. One: the ninja being so close to this village was no accident; they had been waiting for Kakashi, and Sasuke. Two: the list of names told her who they were after, and the ones they had crossed off were the one's they must have already gotten. She easily recalled the list in her mind while making a mental note to find a pen and some parchment later, the memorization technique she had used would only last for about 24 hours. She carefully slipped down to sit on the roof as she carefully listened to the chatter below catching each name as it was said. Luckily the names had been listed under the village they were in, so all she had to do was choose two names from the list and find the two the names belonged to.

It took a good couple of hours before she was certain she knew who to follow to find who she was looking for. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, making sure to stay out of sight, she followed man who had said one of the people she was looking for was his daughter. She studied the man as she followed him as silently as a shadow. He seemed hard and strict, almost as if he were a man who had never smiled or done anything fun in years. He also had an aura of power about him; she gave a small smile as he watched the man enter his house. She waited for a moment, watching silently as she went over in her mind what she was going to say. About to walk up to the house she paused for a moment and blew on her hands before running them through her hair. Brown trickled down her golden hair covering it completely. She then rubbed her eyes turning them the same dark brown. Feeling a little less obvious she jumped down and walked up to the front door. _Ok stand straight and look them in the eye, shinobi look down to no one_, she told herself mentally as she knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. The door was opened a moment later by a youth who looked to be about 15 years old. He wore a leaf headband with two straps hanging down on either side of his face. His hair was long and black and done up in a pony tail at the back of his neck; he also had strange piercing eyes with a look that questioned her being there.

"Good evening, may I please with the head of the household?" she asked simply. The boy just nodded and opened the door inviting her to wait inside. She casually stepped inside and waited as the boy left to get his father. As the man walked up to her she greeted him in a crisp, formal manner as she tried to stay calm under his piercing gaze. She explained to him that his youngest daughter had been chosen to assist in a special assignment along with others from the village. When the man questioned her wondering why it was his youngest daughter and not one of his elder son's or daughter, she simply replied that it was the will of the lord Hokage. The man seemed to except it, to some extent, and asked what his daughter needed to do to prepare for the mission.

"She needs to meet me at the front gate in about forty minutes, she needs to only bring essential things, the lighter the better of course." The man nodded. Tao thanked him and gave a small bow which he returned before she left. Once she was about thirty paces from the door she let out a relieved sigh. She wasn't sure what it was about that house, but the atmosphere was so thick she had almost found it hard to breath. Shaking herself mentally she hurried to her next destination hoping that the next family wasn't so foreboding.

She left the second house laughing. This family had been the complete opposite of the first, and for that she was grateful. She now had thirty minutes to complete what needed to be done before she met the two at the front gate. Anyone might think it strange to recruit only Genin for such a mission, perhaps even slightly insane… but she had a good reason for it. She would bring these two from this village along with Naruto and Sakura incase she had no luck recruiting at other villages, and also… if their names were on the list to be captured, the safest place for them was not at or around home, Kakashi and Sasuke had proven that, but going towards the enemy where they were least expected to be. She stopped by Sakura's house and gave a similar story for her mother along with an excuse for her not coming home to pack. This seemed like something Sakura might actually do because her mother believed her without question and simply left to pack some things for her daughter. She thanked the woman and left for Naruto's. She gathered some things for the boy and placed them in a bag she found under his bed. Before she left she found two pieces of parchment and a pen on which she quickly scribbled down the names and the map that she had memorized. She smiled as she folded the paper into her pocket and left for the main gate.

Tao stood by the gate patiently waiting. The sun had just about set and she had long since released the spells on her hair and eyes, wanting the two Genin she was going to meet to see her how she was supposed to look, rather than showing them later and having explain herself. There was about five minutes remaining when a small young girl came running towards her. She seemed like a shy girl; her black hair was cut just above her ears with two strips of hair on the sides of her head much like her brother. She wore her leaf band around her neck that barely showed through the big sweater she was wearing. She stopped in front of Tao panting slightly slipping her bag from her shoulders to her ground. The bag was small and probably wasn't carrying very much.

"Um… please miss, are you the one I was told to meet at the front gate?" The girl asked in a small, quiet, shy voice.

"Yes, my name is Tao, and you must be Hyuga Hinata." She said with a smile. The girl simply blushed and looked at her feet.

"I… I'm not late am I?" she asked still looking at her feet.

"Not at all, in fact you are five minutes early, good job." Hinata just simply continued to look at her feet as if somehow embarrassed by the compliment. Tao was about to wonder when the boy was going to get there when there was an explosion of smoke about fifteen paces from them.

"Rock Lee reporting for duty!" As the smoke cleared Tao saw a boy who looked rather… interesting. He had a bowl cut and seemingly as much hair for eyebrows as on his head. Plus she wasn't too sure what to think of his pose; one knee raised slightly so that that foot was on tiptoe, one arm raised right above him fingertips pointing down, the other hand made a circle with his thumb and forefinger over his eye while the other fingers were splayed out. Tao wasn't too sure if she should laugh or question what had brought this boy's name to the top of her list.

"Well met Rock Lee, my name is Tao."

"It is a pleasure to meet you." He said with a low bow.

"Well then, if we are all ready?" she asked receiving a nod from both of them. Lee had walked over and Hinata had hitched her bag on her back again.

"Then let us be off, I'm sure you have questions for me which I will be sure to answer for you once we meet up with the other."

"Others Tao Sensei?" Lee asked looking up at her curiously. Tao smiled and nodded as the three of them walked out the gate.

---

From the position of the moon Sakura guessed it was somewhere around eight. She gave a small sigh as she continued to look at the moon wishing she had asked to go with Tao back to the village to collect some of her things – then she'd be a little better off. _We're probably going to sleep on the cold hard ground_, Sakura thought as she pouted looking over at Naruto. The boy was looking into the fire still, a funny smile on his face. _Huh… he's probably exited that were going on this big mission with a high ranking ninja… he probably doesn't contemplate what we're getting ourselves into. _Sakura almost silently admitted to herself that she was a little scared, and wished she had some of the boy's courage and enthusiasm.

"Hey…Naruto?" Sakura asked in a barely audible whisper. Naruto looked up from the fire rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah Sakura?"

"Um… when do you think Tao will come back?"

"I'm sure she'll be back soon. I'm trying to figure out more important stuff myself." He said crossing his arms over his chest grinning at her.

"Oh really…" she said with a smirk "and what might that be hm?" she asked raising an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"Like where we're going." He said slouching back down giving Sakura the impression that while he had been thinking about it, he hadn't figured it out yet.

"Well…" Sakura said as she picked up one of the smaller sticks from their firewood pile and began to draw a map on a patch of bare Earth.

"Here's our village, and most of the other villages are to the north, northeast or northwest."

"But you said most, so is there one in that direction then? To the southwest?" Naruto asked trying to understand her map while looking at it upside-down.

"Umm, yes, the only ninja village that I know of that is to the southwest is…" Sakura stared at her map as she completed it and saw what lay dead in their path. "It's the Wind Country - Hidden Village of Sand."

"Oh… well… that's not to bad is it?" Naruto asked looking up at her as if wondering what it was she was worried about. Sakura was just about to go off her head at Naruto about not knowing anything and always falling asleep in class when she could have sworn she heard something moving outside their little encampment. The two of them froze and looked out into the forest to try and see who, or what, it was. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Tao walking forward towards them. She paused for a moment then raised her hands in front of her palms together then moved them apart as if pushing back curtains. As she did this there was a shimmer around Naruto and Sakura as part of the shield surrounding the camp moved away so Tao was able to see them.

"Ah there you two are." She said smiling. Naruto and Sakura stood up and walked towards Tao wanting to see who she brought with her.

"Naruto and Sakura, I'd like you to meet your traveling companions; Rock Lee and Hinata." The four stared at each other for a moment. For Hinata it was more like a second as she took one glance at Naruto then seemed to find something extremely interesting about the ground beneath her feet. Lee however was not short on words.

"Sakura! My pink haired angel! I shall protect you with my life I swear it!" He said striking a confident pose as Naruto scolded at him not really noticing Hinata's shyness towards him.

"Ummm… sorry but you're just too unique for me." Sakura managed to mumble causing Rock Lee to slump forward as if he had just taken a blow to the head.

"Ah well, as a ninja in training I shall not surrender easily… I shall prove to you that I can protect the woman that I love!" He said standing triumphantly again. It was Sakura's turn to slump forward not too sure what to say to discourage this boy's seemingly unwavering affection for her.

"I'm glad you all know each other. Now Sakura, Naruto, I brought packs for you both as well." She said handing them their packs which they gladly took. "Now why doesn't everyone unroll their sleeping bags for the night?" she laughed as they all looked at her in surprise. "Now I didn't say 'go to sleep' now did I. I'm sure some of you have some questions for me which I will try to answer as best I can." The four nodded and got ready for the night as Tao resealed the surrounding charka spell. Once everyone was settled around the fire Tao looked around at everyone.

"Now before you ask me anything I wish to tell you this first; I will not lie to any of you. If I am unable of answering your question I will simply tell you so rather than simply trying to guess or making something up." The four nodded. "Also we do need to get up in the morning and travel a great distance, so please forgive me if I do not allow for all questions tonight alright?" everyone agreed to this easily. "Now where would you like to start?" she asked looking at them in turn.

"Umm… miss Tao?" If it hadn't been so quiet they might have missed Hinata's quiet voice. "You… um, you're not really a Jonin are you. Umm that is I don't mean to be rude of anything it's just that…"

"No you are correct, I am not a Jonin, and this headband does not belong to me." They nodded as she spoke including Naruto who didn't want to look like he was in on everything from the beginning even though he was. Tao's honesty was helping the other three to trust her more.

"Miss Tao, you said we had a mission; a reason for us being here, am I right?" Rock Lee asked. Tao nodded in response.

"The answer to this question will probably also answer the reason as to why I have this headband that does not belong to me." She told Hinata and Rock Lee about what happened earlier. The fight with the ninja's, Sasuke's capture, the discovery of the fact that the same thing had happened to Kakashi. She took the list of names and the map from her pocket and handed them to the two Genin to inspect.

"Miss Tao, I don't understand. This is truly a job for someone beyond the level of Genin so why did you recruit us for help." Rock Lee asked as he and Hinata and Sakura all looked at Tao wonderingly.

"Well, I may not be a Jonin, but I have traveled far and wide and learnt many things. Also the village where I grew up in, all of my people were born with a natural curiosity and a want to learn, and so we did. One of the things I learned from my father was foresight. By looking at the names on that list and concentrating, one of two things would happen. One, nothing; two, I would see a brief image of that person along with a single reason to select them from all the rest." She explained to the eagerly listening children. Even Naruto was paying full attention now, he didn't know anything about Tao's past and she just mentioned her father.

"B…but…but I don't understand, why did it choose me? Why didn't it choose my sister… or my cousin Neji? what possible use could I be on a mission like this?" Hinata asked sounding scared.

"Come on Hinata!" Naruto said loudly to the girl nearly causing her to jump straight up in surprise of having Naruto talk to her so suddenly. "You've got to believe in yourself a little more!" He said crossing his arms over his chest and looked at her with such determination as if her were daring her to try and doubt herself again. About to try and object Hinata looked into Naruto's golden eyes and blushed looking away quickly.

"Umm... alright Naruto if you say so…" She replied softly.

"So do you really think we'll be up for something like this?" Sakura asked. She couldn't help but wonder if it may have been better for her to go home. After all her name hadn't been on the list; what if she just got in the way like always. Naruto and Sasuke were different, they both tried their best and gave it their all; she was usually too busy trying to get Sasuke's attention. Almost as if she sensed Sakura's uncertainty Tao smiled and nodded.

"I am positive; each of you needs to be here because you have something great to contribute to the team." They all smiled and nodded, including Hinata even though it was only a tiny one. "Now, how about some sleep? I will stay up to keep watch all night tonight, after this we will take turns." Everyone nodded, they didn't expect otherwise. After everyone said their goodnight's to each other combined with some shouting from Sakura after Rock Lee had said something along the lines of her being his true love and her being safe while he was around; but after that everyone curled up in their bed rolls to go to sleep all except for Tao who sat cross-legged by the fire, her eyes fixed on the flames as she sent out her hearing to listen to everything around them. Naruto did not fall asleep as quickly as the others had. He wanted to meet Tao in that dream place like before; he wanted to ask her about her family and her village. _Maybe if I concentrate_, he thought to himself,_ maybe I can get myself there…it's worth a try anyway._ Smiling he decided to give it a try. Even though he didn't have the slightest clue as to how or what he was going to do, he sure wasn't going to loose anything in the effort of trying. Picturing the place in his mind Naruto's hands formed the hand sigils as he quietly whispered the Zenton Hotarubi technique. Perhaps he could teleport his dream self there… it was worth a shot, if nothing else he concluded. As he finished the hand sigils he gave a wide yawn and fell to sleep almost immediately.

Tao looked out over the young Genin in front of her. It was true what she had said, they were all capable of more than they knew. True, she could not see into the future like a fortuneteller might; but she did manage to grasp insights to the future, to see something that might tip the scale in their favor. True she didn't fully know what they were up against; all she did know was it was something big, and that she would need to seek help from at least one more person, one from the hidden village to the southwest. The image the name had brought up in her mind was almost scary. The one she had seen was truly powerful, and for the person to be just a Genin like the others with her… she wasn't sure what to think. She turned her thoughts back to Sasuke and Kakashi; it would be nice if she had a way of contacting them like she did with Naruto and as she had done with her family. But now was not the time to try something new, to have her spirit leave her body now to look for them would be to leave the others vulnerable. The shield generated by the charka stones, she was usually the only one underneath it so she wasn't too sure how well it would cover more. As she turned back to look at the fire she felt Naruto's presence at the back of her mind. She gave a small smile, _now how did he manage that all by himself_? She wondered. _Didn't want a simple night's sleep I see._

Naruto looked around grinning in triumph. He had made it there, but had yet to realize that there wasn't much point in being there if Tao was awake and thus not there was well.

"Hey Tao? Taaaaaooooo!" He called out walking around looking for her.

"_Didn't want a simple night's sleep I see._" Naruto whirled around looking everywhere.

"Tao?"

"Because I am still awake I cannot join you, however I should be able to maintain a telepathic link with you while you're there."

"A tela-what?"

"_I can speak to you with my mind, it's like you're hearing the thoughts I send to you_."

"Oh I get it!" He said triumphantly as he sat down on the grass looking up at the dream sky.

"_Did you have something you wanted to ask me Naruto?_"

"Yeah… you're family, the village where you grew up, what was it like, and what other cool things do you know?" He asked her one question after another excitedly as Tao laughed and tried to ask him to slow down and ask one thing at a time.

"One thing… ok, what was your family like?"

"My family…" her voice sounded strange, it seemed distant and… sad, Naruto was sure of it.

"Tao?"

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Ok I'm sorry I just couldn't make it any longer… but I hope I did a good job! I really hope this was worth the wait. :) Thanks to everyone for sticking around and waiting for my next chapter I really do hope it was worth the wait. So please R&R and Ill see you in the next chapter!


	8. power of lightning redone

Authors note: Hey all! Probably didn't think to see me back so soon hm? hehe, well I though I'd just give you some reassurance that I wasn't going anywhere for awhile by bringing you chapter 8! First, thanks go to Dragon Man 180 for pointing out my mistake in Hinata's family, thank you for pointing it out I have fixed it. And as always thanks to all my readers and reviewers this story would not be continuing if not for you, seriously oo …

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Tao stirred the fire in the early morning light. She had stayed awake the whole night without trouble; she was used to such things by now and could stay awake for a whole week without tiring if need be. One by one the others woke up Tao said 'good morning' to each of them but did not really get much of a response even from the energetic Rock Lee who seemed to be a bit sluggish. Tao simply smiled and remained as quiet as the others as they ate a light breakfast before breaking up camp. Tao tended to the wounds Sakura had received from the other day from the ambush then dug up the rune stones Naruto had buried the night before. That done the group set off heading towards the Hidden Village of Sand at a steady pace.

It wasn't till they stopped around noon at a brook for lunch. Tao knew they needed to move quickly, but they needed to be cautious as well. She couldn't quite place it but something seemed to be wrong… almost like she was being watched, but any time she glanced around out of the corner of her eye there was nothing there. She desperately wished she could have completed her training in foresight back at her village, but now was not the time for wishing. As they ate everyone seemed to be coming back to the waking world. Naruto started chatting to Sakura while Rock Lee tried to butt in and steal Sakura's attention and Sakura herself just tried to ignore them both but couldn't help laughing when Naruto and Lee started arguing. Tao however kept her eye on Hinata who continued to sit quietly as if happy to be overlooked by everyone.

"Hey Tao!" Naruto shouted unnecessarily

"Yes" she said simply looking over at him smiling.

"How much longer is it going to take us to get to the Hidden Village of Sand?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest tilting his head to one side in an inquisitive manner.

"Perhaps a day or two more, it all depends on how much ground we cover in one day." The others nodded. Rock Lee looked at Tao curiously.

"Tao Sensei, would you tell us about your village?" everyone looked at Tao including Naruto. Last night he had not waited for her to reply to his question he had instead managed to change the subject quiet effectively before she could answer the question and thus learnt nothing new about her or her family or village.

"My village was located in a valley a very long way away from here, across the ocean. While my village was not very large in number not many stayed there, many villagers preferred to leave on a quest for knowledge."

"Quest for knowledge?" Naruto interjected looking slightly confused. Tao nodded and continued.

"My people are greatly curious by nature and always want to learn and discover something new. But every once in a while we call out to each other and head back to the village to celebrate seeing one another again and the travelers share what they've learnt. It probably sounds silly, to simply want to learn…" Sakura quickly shook her head. There wasn't anything she'd personally like more than to learn all there was to know in the world, Kakashi had always said she was the smartest in their group, personally she felt like it would be a dream come true to meet her people and listen to them talk about the vast knowledge they must have.

"I don't think it sounds silly at all." Sakura said in earnest drawing a smile from Tao.

"How do you call out to each other?" Hinata asked in a quiet curious little voice.

"We all have a mind link. No matter where we are or how far apart we are we can always sense the presence of our family out there somewhere and can find them if need be, and we can talk to each other too." Tao's eyes drifted down and for a moment seemed to be lost in the memory of the past.

"Is that why you're here then Tao? Because you're on a knowledge quest?" Naruto asked.

"Yes… and no. I always search for knowledge but that is not why I'm here. We can talk more later, but for know we need to get going." The others suppressed their rejections and gathered their things. They had the strange feeling that while she said a fair bit they hadn't really learnt anything new about her; Sakura felt like she was talking to Kakashi sensei the first day they met him.

They now moved at a much quicker pace as they raced through the woods. The four Genin were no longer quiet as they had been that morning but continued to chatter and mainly with Tao. Even the quiet reserved Hinata made an effort to tell the yellow haired woman something about herself. Somehow they only felt it fair that she got to know them since she was so willingly talking to them about herself; event if it was only a little at a time.

As the sun set and the moon rose, the group continued on wanting to get in as much distance as they could before they called it a day. The feeling of uneasiness had stayed with Tao throughout the day, but she was unable to determine if it was a threat and if it lay in the present or future. Finally Tao called for everyone to stop saying that they had traveled enough for one day. She signed off duties to everyone splitting them into pairs as she took the stones from her pocked and set up a perimeter a little larger than last nights. Once dinner had been cooked and eaten Tao asked who wanted to keep first watch that night. Everyone was surprised when Hinata immediately raised her hand and asked a little louder than usual if she could please keep first watch. Tao smiled and nodded telling the girl she could wake her for any reason at all. Rock Lee then offered to be second watch. That done everyone settled down for the night as Hinata seated herself on top of her bed roll back straight looking around as if determined to prove she could and would be of use on this mission.

As Tao drifted into her dream world she was surprised to find that Naruto was not waiting for her there. She was glad, however, because she did not want to disappoint him by turning him down again on training lessons. Taking the headband off she looked it over carefully then raised it to her nose and sniffed it gingerly, the sent of dried blood tickled her nose along with the scent of charka. Tao hoped, or perhaps more prayed, that the charka traces on Kakashi's headband would help her find him in the dream world. True she had no idea if this would work or not as she had only attempted this inside her village members and with Naruto, but she knew where Naruto was and could easily draw his dream self from there. _Well…_she thought to herself,_ if I can't find him it won't be for lack of trying_. With that she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

---

Kakashi lifted his head up groggily and looked over at Sasuke who still lay unconscious on the table. It was a draining effort for Kakashi to keep his charka constantly pooled in his center. Although it did seem that his plan was working; the crystal holding him did not seem to be growing although in a room with no windows it was hard to tell how long he had been at this. Glancing back over to Sasuke he was glad to see that there didn't seem to be any crystal growing around him just yet. Although the fact that the youth was still unconscious was not reassuring. As he went back to wondering how long he had been trapped for he began to hear the faint sound of footsteps. He quickly slumped his head in hopes of giving the impression that he was asleep. The footsteps entered the room and seemed to stop in front of him.

"Time to wake up Kakashi… Hitojo doesn't want to die from lack food." The voice was feminine and sounded familiar. Kakashi still did not move half hoping that she would just leave the food and go. However this was not the case, the moment he felt her fingers brush his cheek to remove his face mask he instantly jerked his face up and away from the hand.

"Oppose, that woke you up now didn't it?" the woman asked as she rebalanced the bowl on her hand that she had nearly had dropped in surprise at Kakashi's sudden movement. "Now then are you going to eat or not? I could promise if you like, that there is nothing wrong with the food. Master Hitojo doesn't want any of his valued 'guests' sick or poisoned." She drawled as Kakashi glared at her. She simply chuckled lightly "now now don't go giving me that look, I have no plans to tell you anything really, not that it would matter if I did… who would you tell it to? You're cell mate over there?" she asked jerking her head at Sasuke.

"Do you know why?" Kakashi asked; his voice was hoarse from lack of water.

"Know why what?" The woman asked looking back at him curiously.

"Why is it this master Hitojo of yours doesn't want any of his prisoners poisoned or sick?" Kakashi didn't expect any answer in any shape or form, but he certainly was going to try at any rate.

"Hmmmm… well, I suppose… hm…" She thought for a moment as if trying to decide if to tell him anything and what to tell him. "Master Hitojo simply likes to make sure all the men serving in his 'army' are fit and well." Kakashi just gave a blank stare not sure what in the world the girl was talking about. "Not only that, but the best charka comes from healthy ninja… you see the charka we drain from you does more than just bind you… well, that's enough chitchat out of me for one day." She said suddenly in a brisk cheerful voice "Well if you're sure you don't want anything to eat…" Kakashi shook his head. "No? Well alright then." She turned to go but paused for a moment glancing around the room as if looking for something. Apparently not finding what she was looking for she turned to leave through the hidden door. Once he was certain she was gone he sighed and slumped forward. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, the fact that he couldn't hold his thoughts together from lack of charka and food, he certainly wasn't going to accept any of the food given to him here… but he really needed to think of something fast. He gave another soft sigh as his eyes slowly began to close as he drifted off to sleep.

Kakashi wandered around an open field in his dreams slightly relieved that he could at least be in a place he could relax in his dreams. As he wandered he noticed someone sitting by the river. They sat in a simple cross-legged fashion with their hands in their lap. At first Kakashi thought it was Naruto from the yellow hair, but last he remembered Naruto's hair didn't go past his ears let alone his shoulders. Walking over Kakashi sat down in front of them and looked at their face. It was the girl from the village; or at least… he was pretty certain it was. As he looked at her she slowly raised her head. Her yellow eyes looked into his, she seemed confused for a moment then she smiled widely.

"Kakashi!" she said laughing leaning forward till her face was only a few inches from his looking at him curiously. Kakashi blushed and leaned back slightly as he looked at her confused. What in the world was going on in this dream? "I was worried about finding you, but it looks like I had nothing to worry about." Kakashi just looked at her blankly. Still looking at him she tilted her head to one side curiously "Hey… how come you cover half of your face anyway? And one of your eyes are closed too, how come?" she sounded as curious as a little child leaving Kakashi at a loss as to what to say to this dream girl.

"What is your name?" He asked the question before he was able to contemplate it. What was the point in asking her name when this was a dream, it wouldn't be her real name just one his subconscious would give her.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't get a chance to tell you my name before did I? It's Tao." _Tao… just like Naruto's fox friend._ Kakashi thought to himself. "Hey, I know this is a silly question, but you don't happen to know where you are do you?" she asked hopefully.

"Where I am?"

"Yeah, where you're being held prisoner… unless you've already managed to break out." This dream just seemed to be getting weirder and weirder. Once she noticed he didn't seem to be giving him an answer she placed a hand on his forehead as if to check his temperature. "Are you alright Kakashi?" she asked sounding concerned. "Oh wait hang on… you think this is a dream don't you?" Tao did her best to try to explain to Kakashi that, while they were asleep, this wasn't a dream. She showed him his headband and told him how she was traveling with Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and Rock Lee in hopes of finding him and Sasuke. Kakashi stayed silent listening the whole time not sure what to make of all of this; although if what she was saying was true he wasn't sure he approved of the young genin being away from the village. After he had voiced as much to her Tao told him of what she had guessed to be going on thus far and even showed him the two pieces of paper of the map and the list of names. Kakashi recognized a good handful of the names on the list.

"I just thought that it would be best and safest for them not to be where these people would be looking for them." Kakashi nodded in agreement. He then told her about what he knew about where he was being held and about Hitojo, making sure not to leave out anything that might be important. The two talked together trying to form at least vague ideas as to what in the world was going on. As they talked Kakashi found his fondness for the girl increase. While she seemed to be young, in her early twenties perhaps, she seemed to hold a great deal of knowledge and understanding as if she had many years worth of experience. And if this was the case it impressed Kakashi even more that she hadn't been turned hard and cold as a result of it. He still wasn't quite sure whether or not this was a dream; but he was starting to get the distinct feeling that what she had said was true. While they were asleep and in the dream world, they were still communicating with each other.

Halfway through one of their theories Tao stopped talking suddenly, her eyes grew distant as if listening for something.

"Kakashi… I'm sorry but I have to go…" she said, her voice sounded steady but her eyes held worry… perhaps panic.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked not sure what was going on

"Someone's trying to wake me up… something might be wrong." She twisted as if about to get to her feet but paused. Turning back to Kakashi she reached forward and placed a hand on his chest. Narrowing her eyes in concentration Kakashi was about to ask what she was doing when suddenly he felt a surge of energy shoot from her hand to him nearly overflowing his charka limits.

"You seemed low on energy… I bet you could use the boost." With that she got to her feet and turned to run away from him. Trying to recover from the shock as quickly as possible Kakashi got to his feet in an attempt to follow her but she quickly disappeared. Standing still, simply looking off where she had been Kakashi wondered if she had woken up; and if she had… how did he do the same? He didn't have to wonder for very long, the landscape around him blurred and faded as if it was unable to support itself once the creator had left. Opening his eyes he found himself back in his prison. This time he didn't bother to close his left eye, it seemed that the energy boost he had received in his dreams had carried over to the waking world. Flooding the charka to his limbs he strained against the crystal hoping it was enough to break free. A high pitch whining noise seemed to fill the air but Kakashi ignored it. He felt the power in the crystal tugging at his newly acquired charka however it didn't seem to be succeeding in draining it. The sound of shattering glass filled the air as Kakashi lurched forward and had to stumble to stop from falling flat on his face. The shattered crystal fell shattered all around him and hit the ground with small flashes of charka as it retuned to its powder state. Kakashi hurried over to Sasuke. Finding that the crystal had already begun to grow around the boy he carefully pried the youth out of the border of crystal that had already begun to cling to Sasuke as it had to Kakashi. Once he had the boy in his arms he looked around with his Sharingan eye hoping that there was another way out of there besides the one door that everyone used. Luck seemed to be with him, there was a second door which he quickly took. The door led to a passageway which Kakashi walked down quickly but quietly; knowing it wouldn't be long till someone noticed they were gone. All he could do was hope to find someplace to hide so that he could check Sasuke and hopefully wake him because the more Sharingan they had looking out the better.

---

Tao opened her eyes in the waking world to see Hinata looking down at her as she knelt beside to her. The girl was shaking her gently her head next to her ear whispering Tao's name repetitively in hopes of being as quiet as possible while still trying to be loud enough to wake her. Tao looked at the girl but did not say a word. Instead she sat up and looked around outside of their encampment. She didn't see anything, but then again she didn't have to. The scent in the air… if she had been in her fox form her hair would be on end and her hackles would be up. Looking to Hinata she raised a finger to her lips then pointed to Naruto who was closest to her. She nodded and crawled carefully over to Naruto making sure to place a hand over the mouth of the boisterous youth before trying to wake him up. Tao crawled over to Lee and did the same. He looked up at her confused, she simply looked around and placed a finger to her lips he nodded understanding and moved over ever so slightly so that he could wake Sakura. Once everyone was awake each of them kept watch in a different direction, each of them knew something was out there; or more perhaps a few someone's. Dark clouds began to gather overhead blocking out the moonlight making it darker than it already was. In her mind Tao was contemplating the best course of action.

The two main choices were, of course, fight or flee. They could try to run for it, but where exactly would they be running to? And would it be possible to outrun those that waited for them. In her fox form Tao knew she could outrun anything, but that meant leaving the others behind… something she had no intention of doing. But if they fought; Tao's main powers lay in the defensive rather than the offensive, she had always preferred not to fight, much like the people in her village, but in this case there was more than just herself to defend. She was quickly growing fond of her traveling companions, they reminded her so much of her brothers and sisters. They would fight, _she_ would fight… and she would protect her companions as if they were her own kin because for now, they were. Quietly she was able to communicate her plan with the others. They all nodded, not really expecting any other way out of this. They silently gathered their things and then took their positions back at their posts looking out in each direction. Each of them dug a little into the Earth to find the stones that Tao had buried to conceal them on her signal they were to remove the stones and thus be visible to the enemy. This might not have seemed like the best idea in the world… but they trusted Tao to have a plan – and she did have a plan.

"Now!" Tao whispered loudly enough for them to hear her. In an instant they pulled the stones from the Earth and pocketed them to cancel out their effects. In almost the same heartbeat there was movement all around them as the hidden enemy rushed towards them from all sides. Tao had stepped back to stand in the middle of the circle of Genin. While it was too dark for most to see Tao saw as clear as day. She stood stock still waiting for the right moment…

Fast as anything Tao brought her hands up to run them through her hair from skull to tip as fast as possible. As she did small yellow bolts formed in her palms which she held carefully as she brought her hands in front of her to cup them together to hide the charka she held, as well as to encourage it to grow.

"Now!" she yelled again. This time hands went up to cover eyes as best they could while Tao flung her arms high above her head before moving them apart fast causing the large ball of lightning she had been holding to explode in a great flash of light causing the oncoming enemy to cry out in pain as they were blinded by the sudden burst of bright light. Once the light had faded they moved forward quickly not wanting to let their brief advantage end before they had a chance to do anything.

Tao wasn't sure what was going on. She fought back against her opponents as best she could, not knowing quite what she was doing, while trying to keep one eye on the others. This however proved to be impossible so she turned her attention to the masked ninjas in front of her who relentlessly rained down attack after attack. _I must not panic… I cannot panic…_ she repeated to herself mentally over and over again as she dodged and deflected the attacks while trying her best to retaliate. She did her best to suppress the fear she felt growing inside that threatened to overwhelm her. She always feared conflicts of this sort, she had been on the wrong end of them far too many time and had always ended up paying for it no matter what. Gritting her teeth she brought her hands together swiftly forming three different symbols before she launched a two pronged lightning bolt at the two ninja taking them by surprise. Gripping the beginning of the bolt in her hands as easily as one might hold a shuriken she manipulated the lightning to wrap around the ninja rather than simply strike them. The lightning clung to them like fire to dry wood pinning their arms to their sides throwing her arms up then down again caused the ninja to go up then go crashing downward into the ground. Taking the lightning rope she swiftly dragged the dazed ninja over to a tree and tied them to it. The lightning seemed to fade but the two ninja remained stuck fast to the tree as if held there by super glue.

Looking around she noticed that the others seemed to be hard pressed against their more experienced opponents. Hinata seemed to be too scared to do more than throw as many shuriken as she could manage at a time at the closest ninja. Sakura wasn't much different she kept using art of substitution combined with cloning, this however seemed to be having more of an effect. Rock Lee and Naruto however really seemed to be giving it everything they had while managing to stick by and protect Sakura and Hinata at the same time using the girl's attacks to their advantages. Gritting her teeth she concentrated her energy on the soles of her feet hoping that her speed would be enough.

_Crap_… Naruto thought to himself, _this is not good._ No matter how many times he struck, fist or technique, these guys just seemed to keep coming. Lack of light didn't really help ether… if it wasn't so overcast the moon would have added greatly to their range of visibility. He and his shadow clones were struggling against the three ninjas who were raining down shuriken before lunging forward to strike at ether him or his clones. Hinata stood behind him picking up the shuriken that landed by her and hurling them back as best she could. She seemed to be shaking, but her hands seemed to be steady as she launched about five shuriken at a time. Lee was having about the same amount of luck. His blows slammed into his opponents time after time and yet they kept getting back up, he was certain these weren't copies otherwise when he struck them the technique would have ended. _I've got to think of something…_Lee thought as he glanced to Sakura out of the corner of one eye before looking back to his opponents, _I promised I'd protect her and I will_! Throwing the ninja back into the trees and nearly breaking them in the process he turned to ask Sakura if she had been hurt.

"Sakura look out!" Lee yelled at as a ninja immerged from the ground just behind her. Before Lee or Sakura could move a streak of lightning struck the ninja sending him flying through two trees and into the ground. As the two stared they realized it wasn't a lightning bolt. Tao was glowing; her yellow hair wavering about her despite there being no wind to move it. Small bolts of lightning occasionally streaked from her hair to jump around her only to settle into her hair again. Glancing around quickly she chose he next target and launched herself at him moving almost too fast for Lee's eyes to follow. She slammed herself into the ninja sending him flying much as she had the other. She struck again and again, choosing her target carefully before moving, she wanted to make sure she didn't let the ninja get too close to any of her comrades. This time they seemed to be having more luck… the oncoming attacks seemed to be lessening. Once the onslaught had seemingly subsided Tao came to a stop and looked at the others.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked sounding concerned, the others simply looked at her as her yellow aura of charka still surrounded her even though it was slowly fading away. After they recollected their thoughts though they called out that they were all alright. Tao relaxed her hold on her charka, while she would have liked to have waited till they made sure that the threat was over… she wasn't sure if she could have kept going. With her power partially bound as it was she was actually surprised she had managed to keep going as long as she had.

"We need to check everyone of the Nin's that attacked us, something doesn't seem natural…" Tao was cut short as five parasols were launched from around them into the air above her.

"Jyoro-senbon!" (trans: its raining needles from heaven)

"Tao get out of the way!"

"She can't there's no way out!" Fast as anything Tao brought her hands together praying she had enough time to complete the hand sigils.

"Zenton Hotarubi!" she tuned into a flurry of blue lights just as the needles struck the ground where she had been standing. Tao reappeared twenty feet up and back in the air where she had once been standing.

"Tao behind you!" Hinata screamed as loud as she could. But before she could move she felt metal bite deep into her back to slash vertically from one shoulder blade nearly all the way to her waist. Wincing Tao teleported back to the ground before the nin had another chance to strike. But not long after she had touched down a pair of hands shot out of the Earth griping her legs tightly. Struggling she looked over to the others to find that they had been only watching her and not themselves. Two ninja's had already surprised Hinata while Naruto was going all out against them to try and get her back. Sakura was trying to get to Tao in hopes of helping her get free with Lee beside her intent on keeping her safe till the end. Fear and panic began to build up within her as she tried to break free. She felt so helpless… this was all her fault… if she had just done something… anything… she mentally cursed herself for bounding up three-fifths of her power. In her current form she had no way to unlock anymore of her power to assist her friends… she had to do something! As Tao tried to suppress the building fear and anxiety the clouds overhead thickened and rumbled low as it built up energy.

"Let them go…" Tao whispered through gritted teeth. Her words were only met with laughter and taunts as Sakura called out to Tao while Lee tried to get her to stay back. Tao's mind began to swim as the fear overtook her mind, she heard people screaming… the voices were not her friends, but people she knew long long ago. She heard her mother calling out to her, her own voice calling back trying to find her. _No… no don't die, please don't die._ She began to shake as she tried to call out for help with the small amount of charka that she had left. The heavens seemed to reply with a low rumble from the pitch black storm clouds above.

"I… I said let them go!" Tao cried as lightning flashed overhead. Turning her head skyward she opened her eyes, her eyes had gone completely black with no color or white at all. As another bolt of lightning flashed through the sky her eyes seemed to mirror the lightning in the sky. Her hair wavered without the wind as if somehow responding to the lightning in the sky. Suddenly a large bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of her blackening the Earth. The ninja paused for a moment but it was too late to contemplate anything. Lightning continued to rain down from the sky striking ground and ninja alike.

Naruto looked around after he had picked up Hinata taking her from the grip of a ninja who had been struck by lightning and called out to the others to stay still and not to move. He wasn't certain why but something told him that if they stayed put they'd be alright. The four of them curled down into a defensive position to best protect themselves as a bolt hit a tree causing the whole thing to explode with such a force it didn't have time to catch fire.

Once the night fell quiet again they slowly uncurled themselves to look around. Tao was still standing but was looking deathly pale, wondering why they could see so well they looked up to find the storm clouds had dispersed. Getting up Naruto ran over to Tao.

"Tao? Tao… Tao say something, please!" her eyes were glassy and the yellow of her eyes seemed dim.

"We… we have to get moving…" Tao managed to mumble.

"No, you cant you're in no shape to go anywhere" Hinata protested, the others had come up behind Naruto.

"It's not safe…" she moved as if to take a step forward but fell instead. They caught her and eased her down to lie on her stomach, Hinata immediately went and grabbed her bag and ran back over carrying a small container, some cloth, and a bottle of water. Naruto stayed where he was looking down at her. He tried to convince himself that she was alright, that she was just tired… like when Kakashi sensei overused his Sharingan eye when he fought Zabuza. He sniffed slightly as he shook her gently as if he was trying to wake her up. He felt sad, and frustrated… he felt like this was his fault. _Why didn't I fight harder… why didn't I use Kyuubi's power?_ He gripped her torn shirt tightly, the power of the nine tailed fox always helped him heal and recover faster… was there a way to lend some of it to Tao?

"Naruto please move… Sakura here," Hinata said handing Sakura some cloth. "Help me wipe away the blood?" Sakura nodded taking the cloth. They tore her shirt back slightly in order to see the wound better. Naruto and Lee crouched close by waiting till they could be of some help.

"Hey what's that…?" Naruto asked pointing to some kind of strange mark on Tao's back. Hinata leaned forward and squinted at it trying to see what it was in the dim moonlight.

"It looks like some kind of rune marking…" she said looking at it curiously.

"She's got more than one." Sakura said nudging the edges of the shirt "Wonder what they're for?" Hinata shook her head silently saying she had no clue as she began to apply the medicine cream to the cut.

"Will she be alright?" Lee asked his face lined with worry. Hinata nodded. Lee looked over at Naruto and jerked his head to the side before walking away from the girls.

"What is it?" Naruto asked as he followed Lee.

"We have to check the ninja's for something out of the ordinary, then we have to figure out a way to move Tao. She was right when she said we can't stay here… so the moment Hinata and Sakura get her bandaged up we need to move out." Naruto nodded as the two began their search while making sure to keep the girls in their sights… just incase.

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Authors Note: -falls of her chair and onto the floor- ooooh that was not an easy chapter… -gets back up- Hey everyone! Hope you liked chapter eight sorry it might just be a tad to long? oo;; oh yeah… this is your last chance to give suggestions on pairings I've pretty much decided who I'm going to put together… but I can still be persuaded otherwise but other than that… please R&R! I'd really appreciate it as always :) till next time…


	9. Nightmares

Authors note: -Falls on the computer clinging it- I'm finally free from midterms! ahh… they joys of being free… -cough-cough- hehe sorry about that :-p how's everyone doing out there in fanfic land? Well if you're reading this I'd like to say thanks for sticking with me so far! I wasn't sure if this was going to turn out to be a good fan fic or not… but if you're still reading then I guess I'm doing something right then, right? Oh yes before I forget… incase you didn't notice… I REDID CHAPTER 8! I looked back over it and thought it needed some tweaking I guess… I dunno I think my writings getting kinda weak :( tried to fix it, but yeah… First off though I want to thank everyone for their reviews! And I'm sorry to **AnimeFreaks13: **that nothings making sense at the moment! That's probably because not much has been explained yet… but don't worry some things will be uncovered in this chapter! Or put simply I give you readers a better idea of what's going on Cool idea **Tsugath** the stolen charka goes to the weird ninja's? We'll just have to wait and see hm? oh yes, and thanks for you're suggestions on pairing And **Dragon Man 180**; don't worry Tao's still got a few fancy tricks up her foxy sleeves X) as for Hinata not knowing the Kaiten, well… don't worry I shall explain more as to what's going on… I hope I do a good job oo. and as for Tao falling for Kakashi… actually its kind of the other way around :-p Tao only leaned that close to Kakashi because foxes don't really have knowledge of personal space and such…

Ok hopefully I've been more informative and haven't just made absolutely everyone more confused… well enough of all this going on…I'm sure you want the next chapter hmm? Well you're going to get it. When? Well right now :-p just keep reading… and I hope you enjoy

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Back in Konohagakure the 3rd lord Hokage sat at his desk looking at the papers that lay before him. Placing his pipe to his moth he breathed in slowly as he contemplated what to do with the papers before him. Lowering his pipe he exhaled letting the smoke linger in front of him. Glancing up at the clock he noted it to be around noon, Kakashi's scouting mission was supposed to end that morning at seven and he was supposed to report to him at nine. But the Hokage was no fool… he knew Kakashi well and didn't think anything out of the ordinary with his lateness. What did bother him though was the messages he had received from three different families in his village all requesting the same information. One was from the Haruno family, Sakura's mother; another from Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata's father; and the final from Gai, Lee's instructor. While each letter was written by a different hand they all basically asked the same thing: 'Where did you send my child/student… what mission did you send them on…' The first time he read the letters through he thought that this might be a joke of some kind, but Hiashi was not one to make jokes of any kind. That only left him to wonder who had gone around claiming to be gathering people he requested for a mission he didn't have. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't look good. Sakura, Rock Lee, and the heir to the Hyuuga clan – gone… and no one it seemed had any idea where they went and who it was who took them or why. _Why…_the Hokage repeated over and over in his mind. Hinata was not too much a wonder he supposed… he could think of a few people or villages who might be foolish enough to take Hinata… its not like it hadn't happened before ether; but why Sakura… why Rock Lee?

"Lord Hokage?" looking up the Hokage saw Gai walking towards him. "Lord Hokage I did as you requested, it seems as if Naruto and Sasuke are no where to be found. However Kiba, Shino, Neji, and Tenten are all accounted for."

"So only team 7 is fully missing…" Hokage muttered as he raised his pipe to his lips again.

"Forgive me Lord Hokage but I'm afraid I don't understand… why did you not send the others with their team members like you did team 7?" Hokage placed his pipe down as he looked up at Gai lacing his fingers together he propped his elbows up on the table.

"What I am going to tell you… I trust you not to tell anyone else." Gai nodded his face serious. "The truth of the matter is that these young Genin were not selected by myself for a mission I needed them for."

"Lord Hokage?"

"It seems as if someone outside the village has recruited our young Genin, how and for what purpose I don't know… however I want you to go and question people, I want you to see what you can find out about the messenger, if anyone saw them gathering at the gate or elsewhere in the village. Once Kakashi returns I will send him to meet up with you to help with the investigation." Gai nodded and left immediately. Turning to look at the clock the Lord Hokage began to wonder what was taking Kakashi so long.

He was late… even for him.

_lllllllllllll_

It had taken Kakashi quite some time; he wanted to be certain the room he chose was empty and was going to stay that way for at least a short while.

The room was full of crates and boxes, and everything seemed to be covered in a good layer of dust. _Good_, Kakashi thought to himself as he walked in and looked around the room, it looked like no one had been in here in a long while. Kakashi looked around a moment before stopping on top of a crate that was nearly completely surrounded by others. He placed Sasuke down and took a good look at him with his Sharingan eye. At first glance it seemed like it was just a simple hypnotism jujitsu, a simple technique that could have someone knocked out for a certain amount of time chosen by the caster. But then again… nothing had been 'simple' thus far. Thinking for a moment Kakashi wondered if he could transfer some of his newly acquired charka to Sasuke. Well, he had watched Tao as she transferred some of her energy to him so surely he could do the same. Thinking back he tried to remember if he had had his left eye open or not. He gave a sigh and decided he was simply going to try anyway. Placing his fingertips on each of Sasuke's temples Kakashi began to concentrate. His Sharingan eye began to spin as he tried to thread his energy to Sasuke in hopes of waking him. Kakashi's hands began to glow as the charka slowly began to split off from him. Before Kakashi could start to hope that it was working his vision clouded then went black.

-

Opening his eyes again he noticed his vision was still blurry. Rubbing his eyes he mentally chided himself hoping he hadn't been out for too long, lowering his hand he blinked and took a look around. Something was wrong… something was very wrong… he was no longer in some abandoned storage room with an unconscious Sasuke. He was in a house of some sort; a house that looked _very _familiar… and yet Kakashi couldn't seem to put his finger on where he'd seen this place before. Hearing the sound of running footsteps he turned to an open door to see who was coming, his hand went to his shuriken pouch before he remembered he had been relieved of the earlier. A figure stumbled into the room whirling around as if to see if anyone was behind them.

"S…Sasuke?" the boy spun around eyes darting about; it was Sasuke… Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sasuke, do you know where we are?" rather than reply Sasuke bolted right past Kakashi almost as if he didn't see him there. Kakashi called out after the raven haired boy but he didn't respond so he simply ran after the boy catching up to him with ease. Looking at the boy as he ran astride with him he saw his face was twisted with fear.

"Sasuke… Sasuke! Tell me what's going on here." Sasuke simply looked behind him then looked forward again trying his best to run faster. Before Kakashi could ask the youth again what was going on he heard the sound of footsteps behind them. They were slow paced, and yet the sound of footsteps seemed to be getting ever so slightly louder as if the person was catching up with them. The room they were running through seemed to be a large corridor that looked like it went on far longer than it should have. As they ran a figure seemed to appear in front of them with their back to them.

"MOM!" Sasuke shouted as loud as he could. Kakashi looked at Sasuke in shock; 'mom'? There's no way that could be right…

Running over to the woman Sasuke placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Mom, we've got to get out of here… mom…" as he tried to turn the figure around to face him the figure fell forward. "Mom… mom come on we need to get going… Itachi's coming we've-" he stopped short as he turned the woman over to look at her. Her face was deathly pale; her eyes were open in a death gaze. Kakashi knelt down beside Sasuke trying to figure out what in the world was going on. The destruction of the Uchiha clan happened years ago… the members had all been buried… Sasuke started shaking the lifeless figure that he believed to be his mother begging her to wake up. As he looked on red lines began to form on the woman's face than then split open creating deep slash wounds on her face. Sasuke nearly dropped the woman in horror as he stood up and took a step back. Blood began to pool around her as Sasuke stood rooted to the spot looking on in fear.

"Little brother…" a voice called out from behind them. Turning around the color completely left Sasuke's face. He inhaled sharply before turning to run again leaving the figure of his mother behind.

"Sasuke, Sasuke wait!" Kakashi called out as he ran after him. "Sasuke… you need to listen to me, I don't think any of this is real… think about it, none of this makes any sense it can't be real; Sasuke!" Kakashi reached over as if in an effort to grab the boy's arm in hopes of getting his attention. His hand passed straight through the boy's arm as if he himself were no more than an apparition. His mind reeled for only a split second before he it figure out what in the world was going on. When Tao had spoken to him in his dreams the night before… she must've used a technique to get there right? Was it possible that his Sharingan had tried to copy the wrong technique? If that was the case… then was he inside Sasuke's dream? _More like a nightmare_… Kakashi thought to himself as he looked around seeing the members of the Uchiha clan appear on ether side of the corridor, _just as Sasuke must have seen them the day they died_… he thought.

"You can't escape me little brother…" Glancing behind him Kakashi saw the figure getting closer despite the fact that they were running while the figure was walking. _I've just got to get Sasuke to wake up from this nightmare…but how am I going to do that? For some reason I'm not even solid_. Sasuke cried out as a hand grabbed onto the top of his head pulling him back. Kakashi stopped and turned around. Itachi held on tight to Sasuke as the boy tried to escape. Looking at Itachi Kakashi became almost certain that this was a dream… or nightmare… as he had thought. Itachi seemed warped somehow; he was larger than he should've been, his hands looked more like claws and his skin was a deep tan. Around him a black aura rippled and almost seemed to be drawing in everything around him. He had to make himself more solid so he could get Sasuke to wake up from this nightmare. Closing his eyes Kakashi concentrated on himself this time, hoping to complete the technique and make himself solid. Sasuke cried out and tried to break free from his brother's grasp, unaware that everything around him was nothing more than a terrible dream. Opening his eyes Kakashi reached out for Sasuke hoping to be able to grab the boy this time. His hand closed around Sasuke's arm tightly, the boy turned to look at him eyes wide.

"Ka… Kakashi sensei!" Kakashi grinned as he brought his arm down onto Itachi's hard and fast causing him to release Sasuke.

"Come on!" Kakashi yelled pulling the boy to his feet. Sasuke's feet slipped under him for a moment but he was quickly up running beside Kakashi.

"Kakashi sensei… what's going on I don't understand what's happening. One minute I'm with Sakura and Naruto looking for you… the next minute I'm running from my brother and this… this monster I don't know what it was is attacking the village - "

"What?" Kakashi asked turning to look at him for a brief moment. "You mean this isn't the only thing going on in your dream?"

"Dream? You call this a dream? I'd call it a nightmare." Sasuke said dryly. Rather than reply Kakashi filled him in on what he knew to be going on. He told him about Hitojo, the fact that they were being held prisoner, how he had managed to get free, and the technique on Sasuke that was now obviously _not_ just a hypnosis technique; all as briefly as possible while trying not to leave out anything important.

"Now we need to get you to wake up Sasuke." Sasuke just looked at him blankly.

"Don't you think I would've done that by now if I could have?"

"Ah but did you know it was a dream?" With nothing to respond with Sasuke simply tried to concentrate on waking up. After a moment he simply sighed.

"I think we both knew it wasn't going to be that easy." Kakashi nodded and tried to think of a way to get the boy to wake up. He thought about going back to the waking world himself and trying to wake him up from there, but the fact was he hadn't seen Tao end the technique… and the last thing he wanted to do it try a technique he hadn't really seen again.

"Sasuke, imagine the village."

"What?"

"I think there's something there that might help us." Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes as Kakashi hoped that he was right. The continuing hallway of Sasuke's slaughtered family members blurred and the world around them seemed to take on a new form. The two stopped and looked around; it definitely looked like Konohagakure village… but something was very wrong. Kakashi inhaled and sneezed hard, the air was thick with the smell of blood and death and yet the village looked undamaged.

"Sasuke… Sasuke… Sasuke won't you come train with me please?"

"Sakura?" her voice sounded faint, it seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Sasuke looked around and was about to run off looking for her but Kakashi grabbed his shoulder.

"Oh no you don't, I am not going to have you playing into their trap… you are going to stick with me and we are going to get out of here." Sasuke nodded. His face had gone pale and his usual uncaring expression had gone and was replaced with a blank expression that was trying poorly to cover up the fear that reflected in his eyes. Something was going on here and Kakashi knew it. There was a point to all of this; he just needed to figure out what. Why have these visions repeat themselves over and over again, in the end they might have driven Sasuke insane if he had not intervened; but what good is an insane ninja? Kakashi began to walk forward making sure Sasuke was following. Voices of friends and people they knew called out to Sasuke constantly; from his teammates Sakura and Naruto to his teachers… they called out to him wanting him to come and find them. All the while Sasuke stayed by Kakashi. His fists were clenched at his sides as his fear continued to grow. Kakashi wasn't sure what had happened here before but something seemed to be terrifying Sasuke, and until now he had yet to see the boy truly scared let alone terrified. Sasuke stopped suddenly; he stared at the ground breathing heavily.

"Sasuke, come on we have to get out of here now."

"K… Kakashi?" his breathing was becoming difficult now. He looked up and around as if in a panic. "Kakashi! Naruto, Sakura where are you?"

"Sasuke? Sasuke what are you going on about I'm right here." Kakashi grabbed the boy by the shoulders and looked at him. Sasuke's eyes were unfocused. A black dot appeared on his forehead and then slowly began to spread out like a plant sending out its roots. Whatever technique was going on here Kakashi was willing to bet that it would be done once that symbol was fully formed. The voices calling out to Sasuke changed to jeers and taunts.

"You think you're so great Sasuke? How foolish you are."

"How weak…"

"How…_alone…_" The voices laughed and jeered as Sasuke seemed to drift further away despite Kakashi's grip on the boy. Hurriedly he picked up the boy and began to run. As he ran a dark red shadow started creeping over the village; to avoid it Kakashi took to the rooftops moving as quickly as he could. Up in front of him were the carvings of the Hokage's of Konohagakure. The dream seemed to be coming apart all around them as Kakashi made his way to the top of the monument. Once at the top Kakashi turned to look back down the way they came. A blood colored mist had gathered and was beginning to rise. _Now or never…_ Kakashi thought to himself; _and it better work because I have no idea what else to try._

"Sasuke, come on Sasuke its time to wake up." He said trying to put the youth down, he tried because Sasuke seemed to have no intention of using his legs to stand so Kakashi had to half hold him up. "Sasuke, come on Sasuke you have to jump." Sasuke's eyes were still darting around as if he was trying to look everywhere at once. "Sasuke snap out of it!" Sasuke seemed to stop for a moment; his breathing was still heavy and erratic, the black mark was still etching itself onto his forehead. How much time still remained before it was done Kakashi had no idea, but he wasn't going to stand around and wait.

"Sasuke, you need to jump, don't worry I'm going to be jumping right next to you." Sasuke didn't say anything but looked down then slowly started to back up but Kakashi came up behind him and stopped him.

"I don't know if you can see me or not, I don't know if you can still hear me ether, but you have to jump. I know it sounds foolish or perhaps more accurately stupid… but I have no idea how else to wake up from a dream; well I do but I don't think a simple pinch or splash of water in the face is going to work. Come on Sasuke… do it for your teammates, they're looking for you right now and they wont be able to find you if you fail here. Don't be weak Sasuke; you know Naruto will never let you hear the end of it." Sasuke blinked a few times then shook his head squinting his eyes tight opening them again he looked down again with Sharingan eyes. Gritting his teeth Sasuke took two steps forward and threw himself off the cliff with Kakashi jumping a split second behind him.

The ground sped towards them and as they fell the red mist began to swirl and grow as if it was trying to reach out and grab them. Kakashi held his breath and prayed in hopes that his stupid idea just might work. Before the mist could encase them their world turned black as they continued to feel like they were falling. The fall seemed to last for only a breath before warmth and solidity wrapped around him as he felt everything stop. At first Kakashi kept still, as if judging whether or not he wanted to open his eyes to see if it had worked. Deciding there was only one way to find out he opened his eyes and looked around. Sure enough he was back in the storage room he had hid away in. Looking down at Sasuke he noticed the boy seemed to be still asleep, not only that but the symbol that was forming on his head in the dream world had carried over into the waking world. He picked the boy up slightly and shook him gently.

"Sasuke… Sasuke!" He hissed softly wondering why Sasuke hadn't woken up like he had. Sasuke stiffened in his grip and the boy's body started to move. Kakashi allowed a small sigh of relief as the youth started to stir. About to ask him if he was alright Sasuke's arm shot out to tighten itself around Kakashi's throat. Kakashi choked, taken by surprise he hesitated for a moment before he gripped Sasuke's wrist trying to gently pry his grip off. Sasuke simply kept tightening his grip on his teaches throat as he brought his legs under him his eyes still closed.

"You… you killed them… I'll make you pay Itachi…" Sasuke snarled. He seemed to be awake but still dreaming at the same time.

"Sasuke… damn it Sasuke snap out of it." Kakashi gripped Sasuke's wrist tightly at the joint intent on forcing the hand to loosen its grip. Sasuke opened his eyes to look at the person he thought was his murderous brother. His eyes seemed unfocused for a moment but as he continued to look he seemed to start to recognize his sensei. Raising his free hand he rubbed his eyes furiously before looking back.

"K… Kakashi sensei? He stammered releasing his grip as Kakashi released his hand. Sasuke stared in disbelief at his sensei as if he couldn't comprehend the fact that he had just tried to strangle his teacher. Kakashi gave an attempted smile at the boy; whatever was going on here just might be bigger than he had previously guessed. Next time he slept he had to try and get in contact with Tao and see if she could reach the Lord Hokage. While trying to reassure Sasuke, Kakashi informed him on what was going on and what they needed to get themselves out of.

_llllllllllllllll_

The four Genin's walked along in silence, a makeshift stretcher carried between them. After searching the nin's Lee and Naruto had managed to make a stretcher on which they could carry Tao. It wasn't much… but it seemed to hold well enough. Once Sakura and Hinata had bandaged Tao they collected their stuff, Naruto and Lee taking the stuff they found with them not wanting to leave it behind or take the time to discuss it. The four of them walked on without rest; even when the first ray's of dawn appeared over the horizon they didn't stop despite the lack of sleep. Even Hinata who had gotten no sleep at all and was trying to stifle a yawn every couple of seconds did not request a break. They knew they had to keep moving as fast and as silently as possible while being careful not to bump Tao around too much. Naruto kept looking at Tao's still sleeping form. She looked so still and pale… true after Kakashi had first fought Zabuza he had passed out from overusing his Sharingan eye and had recovered fully in about a week. But would the same happen with Tao? And did she have a week's worth of time to recover? Naruto frowned as he kept his eyes forward, something big was going on here… and whatever it was probably wasn't going to allow them the time they needed to recover.

They finally decided to stop around noon to have something quick to eat and for Hinata to have a lie-down before continuing. The whole time Naruto continued to watch Tao wondering if she was going to be alright. There wasn't much talk between the four of them; Naruto asked Sakura around how long it would take them to get to the sand village and she drew a small map on the ground to try and figure it out before telling him it would probably take them about twice as long now they were moving at less than half speed. Before they started going again Naruto drew his blanket from his bag and draped it over Tao.

"What's that for Naruto?" Sakura asked watching him curiously.

"I think she's cold… see she's shivering." He replied pointing to Tao. Walking over quickly Hinata placed a hand on Tao's forehead and cheek.

"She doesn't feel cold… we'll just keep a close eye on her as we go." She suggested. They all nodded as they each took a side and lifted the stretcher together, and with one last glance around them to be safe, headed off in the direction of the sand village.

Every now and then Hinata would look around with her Byakugan to see at least a couple of kilometers around to make sure the enemy wouldn't have the chance to find them without them knowing. Naruto kept an eye on Tao and the other on their surroundings. He couldn't help but worry about Tao; when Kakashi overused his Sharingan eye he had woken up that afternoon. Sure he was still exhausted… but he was conscious. It had nearly been over six hours now and Tao still hadn't woken up… did that mean the lightning attack was more draining than the Sharingan eye? Or was she injured more than they realized. Naruto shook his head at the last thought; Sakura and Hinata said that they had patched her up as best they could and they just needed to wait for her to recover. Tao's shivering seemed to come in waves. One moment she was shivering gently as if she felt a little cold and the next her face seemed taut and he half expected her teeth to start chattering or something. _Maybe she's having a bad dream or something…_ Naruto wondered to himself. He then wished he could ask the others to stop for a moment while he tried to teleport himself into Tao's dreams to make sure she was alright. But then he would have to explain how he knew that technique, the one Tao had used to teleport herself in battle earlier. Rather than start thinking about that again Naruto tried to start up a conversation in hopes of reducing the anxiety that seemed to be drifting over everyone. It took him a bit, but soon everyone was talking at least a little bit, even Hinata… tired and shy as she was… joined in now and then.

"Hey hey, hold up a second…" Naruto said coming to a stop causing the others to do the same.

"What is it Naruto?" Hinata asked looking over at him.

"I could've sworn she just opened her eyes… just for like a second or something but…" carefully they all placed the stretcher down and watched Tao carefully. After a moment Sakura was about ready to call Naruto a dunce and that he must have been seeing things. However before she could open her mouth Tao's eyes fluttered open then shut again. They stayed closed for only a moment before she opened them again this time she kept her eyes open.

"Wh… what…?" Her voice was weary and slightly crackled. She coughed slightly before trying to sit up but with not too much success.

"Please Tao sensei; try not to sit up…" Hinata said pleading as she put a hand softly on the woman's shoulder. Rather than trying to sit up again she looked at each of them in turn as if trying to remember something.

"What happened… where are we?"

"We're still on our way to the sand village." Sakura said quickly.

"That lightning attack of yours made quick work of those ninja's it was great!" Rock Lee added grinning down at her.

"Oh the lightning rain… wait, I didn't hurt any of you did I?" she asked looking up at them afraid that she might have struck one of her companions. They all quickly shook their heads and reassured her that they were all fine mainly thanks to her.

"I'm sorry for being such an inconvenience… I can walk now." She said but they all refused to let her try asking her how she would manage to walk if she couldn't manage to even sit up. Finally they decided to camp for the night and Naruto and Lee would show her what they had managed to find on the ninja if she agreed not to try walking till tomorrow. That settled they found a good spot to set up camp where Tao could sit up with her back to a tree. While Hinata and Sakura were gathering fire wood Naruto and Lee dumped the various items they had collected in front of Tao for her examination.

"We searched them all like you suggested, but we didn't find much." Lee said as he rummaged through his backpack making sure not to miss anything he had gathered.

"Yeah, but they all had these weird pendants." Naruto said holding up one for her to look at. "They were all wearing one and we grabbed all of them just incase they were different." He handed the pendant over to Tao who examined it carefully for a moment before placing it down wanting to look at the other items before fully expecting any of them.

"I took three headbands; they all have different symbols on them. Not only that but the symbols keep changing." Lee handed her the headbands and paused for a moment before continuing. "There's more though… the three nin's I took the forehead protectors from… they all had this strange symbol on their forehead. Here…" he stuck his hands in both his pockets and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from one of them. "I tried to draw a copy of the symbol, just incase you knew if it meant anything." He said as he handed her the piece of paper. She looked over all the items as the boys handed them to her, then told them to help Sakura and Hinata once they had shown her all they had gathered.

The sun had set and dinner was being cooked over a small fire with the four huddled around it with Tao looking on from the side.

"Tao? Can I ask you something?" Hinata asked shyly looking over at her. Tao smiled and nodded. "Umm… when you were attacked by the ninja… you got hurt and umm… while Sakura and I were cleaning the wound on your back… um… that is… you see…"

"You mean the runes on my back right?" Hinata looked up surprised. Before she could start apologizing for something she was sure she wasn't supposed to bring up Naruto jumped in and asked. "Ruins? No no the marks on you're back."

"You idiot!" Sakura yelled hitting him over the head. "The symbols on her back are called _runes_."

"Owww… how was I supposed to know that…"

"She just told us Naruto." Lee pointed out to him before looking back at Tao. "I hope you don't think it's rude for us to ask, but they looked like burn marks so we were curious. How did you get them?"

"A long while after leaving my village I was fortunate enough to come across someone who was able to control lightning as I did. Though at the time it would not have been accurate to say I controlled it at all. His name was Inazuma Arashiasu, but those who knew him called him 'storm bringer'. For some time I became his student, and he taught me the many ways in which I could use and control lightning. Every time I mastered a new skill a lightning bolt would strike me burning a mark onto my back showing that my power had grown. Since I don't really feel any pain from lightning I never objected and was simply happy to be taught." _Burning your own student to show they've done a good job?_ Naruto thought to himself, _I'll take a pat on the back or a bowel of ramen any day!_

"Is lightning control the only ability you have?" Lee asked curiously as Sakura began to pass out the food.

"No, before I left my village my mother and father trained me a little. My father taught me techniques of the mind, such as dream projection and teleportation. My mother tried to teach me healing, but she wasn't able to teach me anything past minor cuts and bruises before I left… but she also taught me how to sing."

"Sing? How is singing good in a fight?" Naruto asked. Tao chuckled softly.

"Depending on the song and the amount of energy I put in it, I can ether put an enemy to sleep or hold them in a trance for almost any amount of time. It's proven to be quite useful on more than one occasion."

"Why did you leave home so soon?" Sakura asked "I mean… it seemed like you had a lot more you could have learnt before you left so…"

"I left because I had to, I made a promise I would… and I never break my promises." She quickly gave a reassuring smile to the others before continuing. "Now then, I'm going to try and get to sleep… since we cross to the desert tomorrow I need to be rested. Also, I plan to show Kakashi what you found on the ninjas." The four of them stared at her blankly mouths gaping as they all wondered if they had heard her correctly.

"What's the matter? I said I could dream project, since I have Kakashi's headband I can follow the scent of his blood and charka to the dream realm and find him."

"You sound just like Inuzuka Kiba, a guy in our class whose sense of smell is just as sharp as his dogs." Lee commented as he at his share of fish soup. Tao simply smiled and lay down carefully clutching one of each item in her hands wanting to make sure it carried over with her into the dream realm.

It took her longer than normal to get to the dream realm; she blamed it on her overuse of lightning. By drawing power that she still had bound within her had really worn her out. _Next time I've got to try to unseal some of my power rather than yanking it through the seal._ Looking around the dream realm she noticed that Kakashi wasn't asleep yet so she sat down placing the items next to her. She sat in a meditative pose and began to focus on the lightning that flowed within her as freely as blood in hopes of restoring enough of her physical energy to be able to walk tomorrow while she waited for Kakashi to fall asleep.

_lllllllllllllllll_

"But I don't understand; why do you need to go to sleep right now? We should be trying to figure out a way out of here." Kakashi suppressed a sigh as he tried to explain again to Sasuke what he was trying to do.

"Look, I need to get in touch with the hokage, and the one leading Naruto, Sakura and the others has the ability to do this. How I'm not too sure, I'm more hoping to succeed in copying the technique required to get there really."

"Kakashi you act too relaxed for a situation such as this." Sasuke hissed. After his continuing nightmares and unconsciously trying to strangle his sensei afterwards Sasuke wasn't sure if he was going to be going to sleep anytime soon.

"Just trust me alright Sasuke, believe it or not I do know what I'm doing." Sasuke simply grimaced but decided not to point out the fact that Kakashi had just said he wasn't sure if he could get there. Instead the boy simply nodded as Kakashi sat with his back to a crate and closed his eyes concentrating. Slowly but surly he felt the world swirl around him as he felt himself being lifted away from his body. He could only hope that he managed to reach Tao's dreams and not someone else's.

He kept his eyes closed for a moment, even after he felt the ground form beneath his feet. He hadn't really succeeded the first time he had tried to copy one of Tao's techniques, and he was hoping that he hadn't gone and messed it up again. Opening his eyes he gave a sigh of relief; this looked just like the place he had first seen Tao in his dreams. _So this should be the right place._ Kakashi thought to himself as he looked around hoping to find Tao there. He spotted her almost immediately sitting peacefully on the grass. Walking over to her he sat down across from her.

"Glad to see you're asleep." Tao's eyes snapped open and stared at Kakashi in complete surprise. "My Sharingan eye allows me to copy any technique I see." Kakashi explained as he grinned at Tao.

"Wow that's amazing! How does it work?" Tao asked bringing her knees under her so she could lean forward to look more closely at Kakashi's Sharingan eye. Kakashi felt his face turn red under his mask.

"Um… well it's a blood line ability passed down through…" Kakashi cut himself short. He had noticed something in the back of Tao's eyes. Looking more closely he noticed that instead of his reflection in her eyes there seemed to be some sort of yellow fox looking back at him. "What the…" he muttered softly. Looking confused for a moment Tao was about to ask him what he meant before she realized what he must have seen. She sat back quickly nearly falling onto her back in the process. Kakashi looked at her slightly confused.

"Well I'm glad you managed to make it here, it took me a little bit of effort to get myself here so I wasn't too sure if I was going to be able to bring you here to so I – " Kakashi held up his hand in a request for her to be quiet.

"Tell me Tao, what are you?" Kakashi asked, his eyes were serious and focused on hers as if he planed to pick out any lie she might tell in response to his question.

"What do you mean?" she asked trying to keep her voice steady, but didn't manage to fully succeed.

"I'm asking what you are; there is much about you that doesn't seem human."

"What do you mean? I look every bit like a human; I walk on two legs just fine… I act just like a human –" Tao stopped short realizing her mistake a little too late. She had thought she was doing so well with her human disguise that she had been quickly offended when Kakashi had commented that she didn't seem like a human. And in her efforts to defend herself she had accidentally let slip the possibility that she wasn't human. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at her waiting for her to truthfully answer his question as she tried to cover her panic of having being found out. _I can't let him find out… he will be just like all the others; and why not? Why wouldn't he?_ Although while she would have liked to have tried to convince him otherwise… to convince him she was nothing more than a human… it seemed like such a thing would be impossible now. Bowing her head down sadly she answered him.

"I am a Yatsune, one of the five tailed demon foxes." Tao had brought her legs up to her chest and rapped her arms around them. "Though I don't know why they always call me a demon fox… demons are supposed to be evil, and it's not like we've ever done anything evil…" Kakashi looked at the girl in surprise. Whatever he was expecting her to say, that wasn't it. And what she had said made him think. It was true she hadn't done anything destructive or demonic… if nothing else she had been trying to be as helpful as possible. _A complete opposite to the nine tailed demon fox_… Kakashi thought to himself. He looked Tao over as she sat there slightly curled up still sitting as if she expected something bad to happen.

"Tao…" he paused for a moment and repeated her name again when she didn't move. She lifted her head up slightly to peak at him over her knees and from underneath the stray wisps of hair that had fallen across her face. Her eyes showed a pleading fear which caused Kakashi to wonder for a moment if he had done something to cause her to feel such fear.

"Tao, why are you afraid?"

"I am afraid…" she whispered in reply.

"Of what?"

"Of what you will say…"

"What will I say?"

"You will tell me to leave, that you don't want to see me anymore and to leave the others alone… you will fear me or hate me… everyone always does…" she replied softly with a small sniff. Wondering for a moment how he could have given her this impression he suddenly thought of Naruto. Naruto had grown up with people through out the village hating him, and never knowing why… perhaps something similar had happened to Tao. If she had grown up with people constantly fearing and hating her for what she truly was… then wouldn't she expect it from everyone?

"Well… I can't really say that I hate or fear you. It's not like you've really given me any reason to anyway; though I am curious to know as to how you got mixed up in all of this." She raised her head to look at him her fear had been completely replaced by her curiosity to his reaction. She giggled softly.

"That one's really easy to explain; you see I owe both you and Naruto a life debt." She said as she managed to give a weak smile.

"What do you… wait… do you mean to tell me, the fox that Naruto and I pulled out from under a fallen tree… was you?" Tao nodded.

"That's right." She said as Kakashi's mind spun as he took in this new concept. _Well it certainly does explain a lot…Naruto was always hanging around fox Tao…no wait this Tao… when they got attacked she must have been nearby, and since both Naruto and I needed help she quickly stepped in in hopes of repaying her debt_. Kakashi looked back up at Tao as she raised a hand to cover a yawn. Looking at him she smiled.

"My mother always told me that if you're tired in you're dreams then you've overstressed yourself in the waking world; it's not very common to be sleepy in the dream world." She blinked for a moment then looked at him. "You… you're really not afraid of me? You don't hate me or…" Kakashi shook his head. Tao leaned forward again this time wrapping her arms around him nuzzling her face into his shoulder. "Thank you…"

"Hey… hey now… didn't you bring something's with you that you needed to show me?" Tao leaned back on her heels letting him go. First she brought him up to date with everything that had happened since she had talked to him last and tried not to notice the way Kakashi stared at her when she said she made it rain lightning. Kakashi in turn told her about how he had managed to break free thanks to her and how he ended up in Sasuke's dream and gotten them both out again. While listening to Kakashi story Tao picked up one of the forehead protectors and turned it over in her hands staring at it.

"I think… I think I have an idea as to what's going on." She looked up at Kakashi who looked at her curiously. "Kakashi, people from every village are being kidnapped by ninja's who wear changing headbands… so far it doesn't seem like anyone's noticed but… once they find out that their people are missing…"

"People will start pointing fingers; not only that… but it seems as if the captured ninja's are not just being drained of their charka but brainwashed as well… and if the person behind this all sends these brainwashed ninja's to fight against other villages." Kakashi frowned and shook his head. "I don't like where this is going… it seems as if someone is trying to start a war between villages."

"But why would someone do such a thing?"

"Perhaps the one in charge doesn't want to wait till they have enough power to overtake the villages on his own… so he's hoping that the villages will take each other out so they can just move in." Kakashi paused for a moment as he thought this true. If they were right… they were in way over their heads. "Tao, is there any way you could get in contact with the Hokage of Konohagakure?" Tao thought for a moment.

"I don't know, I was only able to find you because I had you're headband. Through the scent of blood and charka I was able to find you." She said pointing to his forehead protector that she still wore. "To try and find someone I don't know, don't know where they are…"

"They are in Konohagakure village, my home." Kakashi thought for a moment trying to figure out how to get Tao to bring the right person to the dream world. "Tao… when you go to search for the Hokage, can I come with you?" Tao looked at him surprised for a moment.

"I don't know… it's never been tried before. My tribe the Yatsune is the only one I know of that have ever been able to…"

"Can I at least try… my Sharingan eye was able to bring me here on my own, I'm sure it will allow me to follow you to Konohagakure." Tao paused for a moment then nodded.

"It's at least worth a try…" Kakashi nodded as he moved on to the pendants. Looking over one carefully Kakashi thought of something else.

"Tao… how many can you pull into this dream world of yours?" he asked not looking up from the pendant.

"I don't know…probably a few; how many did you have in mind."

"We need to talk to the Hokage for sure, but there are some others I was hoping we might be able to bring here as well."

"Uh huh…" Tao said stifling a yawn.

"If this theory proves to be true; the other villages will need to be warned of –" Kakashi stopped short as he felt something soft fall on the front of his lap. Looking down he saw Tao's head resting on his knee, her shoulder half on his leg as if she had simply fallen forward. Kakashi froze not sure what to do with the fox-girl who seemed to be too tired to stay sitting… nor did he know what to do about the fact that she was half resting on his leg.

"Um… Tao? Humans don't… I mean…" Tao turned slightly so she could look up at him.

"Oh… well you said you don't mind me being a fox right?" Kakashi nodded but wasn't sure why she would ask. Before he could ask anything about it her hair fell forward over her face. Reaching forward to brush the hair out of her eyes he paused noticing that it wasn't hair… but fur. Her ears grew long and pointy as they moved up near the top of her head now covered in yellow fur with black tips at the ends. Her hair… or more fur washed down over her covering her from head to toe. And for a brief moment, when Tao was half way between her fox and human form, she seemed to hold an eerie beauty about her that Kakashi had never seen before. It lasted for the briefest of moments before her human form melted away leaving a yellow fox where a woman once was. Squirming slightly she gently rolled herself over into Kakashi's lap where she curled up seemingly content. She looked up at him curiously from where she sat.

"_Now, what where you saying before?__ You wanted me to bring some other people to the dream world besides this Hokage person right? Well it shouldn't be any trouble I guess, although it will be easier if they are all in the same place." _She paused for a moment and when Kakashi didn't answer she pressed her black nose to his causing him to blink and move his face back slightly. "_Are you ok Kakashi?_" she asked her mind voice sounding slightly concerned.

Was he alright? Well sure, why not? He was just sitting there with a fox lying in his lap. But… just a few moments ago she was human. Kakashi wasn't sure he had felt more confused at any time in his life before than he did just then; or awkward for that matter…

"I'm fine…" he managed to say "Tao… didn't you say you had five tails?" looking down Tao wavered two yellow black tipped tails.

"_I only have two at the moment because my power is bound together. Because lightning can be a bit obvious at times my teacher showed me how to bind my tails together using energy from lightning. When I bind my tails together it's a lot harder for anyone to notice how much and what kind of power I have…_"

"So that's why you looked just like an ordinary fox before… you had all your tails bound together didn't you?" Tao nodded.

"_That's also why I couldn't get myself out from under that log… I had sealed up just about everything so I had nothing left to get me out with._"

"Can't you unbind it?" she nodded.

"_I can unbind it… I have to be in my fox form or half-human form to do it. I couldn't do it before because my lower half was stuck under the tree... I couldn't reach my tail to unbind it. I've got two now because I unbound them before to turn into my human form. Remember? It was the first time I met you in my human form, you were talking to the one person with furry eyebrows._" Kakashi laughed at the comment on Gai's eyebrows.

"Yes I remember, but getting back to what we were talking about before… yes; you said you could get anyone here right? Bu its easier if they are in the same room or something right? So what I think we need to do is give them a reason to all be in the same room, once hey are all there you can make them fall asleep and bring them here right?"

"_You got it!_" she said with a yip. "_Just not tonight though is all I ask… I don't think I've got enough energy to be able to._"

"Couldn't you just unbind your tails some more?" Kakashi asked but Tao shook her head.

"_Since this is only the dream world it will not have an affect on my form in the waking world… basically it wouldn't do any good._" Kakashi nodded then went over his plan with Tao for a little longer before he decided he should get back to Sasuke. He didn't want him to think that he wasn't going to wake up or something. Tao told him to take the two headbands and pendants with him, she said they should come with him to his side of the waking world she wasn't sure but perhaps they might be helpful in the ways of a disguise or something. Kakashi gripped them tight as Tao leaned up and pressed her nose quikly to his forehead causing him disappear.

Looking around for a moment Tao turned to wash one of her tails as she began to think of the next day. Tomorrow they would reach the village of the sand, and she had to think of a way to convince the one they needed to come with them. From the small glimpse she had seen of this person from her foresight it was going to take a lot more convincing to get them to come with her. _Now how am I going to pull this one off?_ She thought to herself as she smoothed over some of the rough patches in her fur.

* * *

Authors Note: I am so sorry this chapter took so long to complete! Also I apologize for it being so long too . all I ask is that you blame it on my finals and not me… yep the writing of this chapter took me from midterms to finals… Oo;; ah yes, but while it has taken me a bit to complete please R&R and since my finals will be wrapping themselves up soon the next chapter shouldn't take too long in getting here ah, and till then please stick around, I promise to make it worth the wait! Also this chapter was probably as long as it was 'cause I didn't exactly want to leave it at a cliffhanger or anything. I wonder if I'll get it at the right length eventually :-p Or at least try anyway :-p Oh yeah, and with Tao? Gotta remember she's an innocent little fox-girl who might know a lot about everything… but still sees no harm in curling up in a comfy lap. Well… see you all in chapter 10! 


	10. final member of the group

Authors Note: WAHHH! It's been like four months or something! Who would've thought I'd find a life outside of school over summer break Oo well… thanks to everyone for not killing me for taking so long XD First off I'd like to say thanks to everyone for their reviews, especially Dragon Man 180, thanks for pointing that out! I kinda feel like a twit now but it's all fixed so yeah . Oh yes, and I've finally stopped being indecisive and decided on who I'm going to pair up in my fan fic, since everyone gave so many suggestions please don't be too mad at me if I didn't pick your suggestion. Ah well… enough random pointless talking on with chapter 10!

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Tao woke that morning with everyone else despite the attempts made to keep quiet in hopes she'd get to sleep in at least. Tao simply scolded them lightly saying she was quite capable of walking now. The five of them broke up camp and took apart the makeshift stretcher before moving on. Not long after they had started on their way Lee asked Tao why she hadn't used Taijutsu against the Ninja's. What he had managed to see of her attacks it looked like she was simply throwing herself into them and hoping for the best. When she admitted that that's was what she _was_ doing and that she had basically no knowledge of Taijutsu whatsoever Lee immediately insisted that he teach her. Right away Sakura started scolding Lee telling him they didn't have time for such things, rather than argue back Lee simply hung his head in disappointment. Tao laughed and said that it didn't matter at that point if they ran or walked backwards on their hands they would get to the sand village before the day was out. Once Lee was done literally jumping for joy he started showing Tao how to throw a punch followed by how to block it.

It was only a few hours before the landscape began to give way to a more arid environment; and by noon they were surrounded completely by sand and the forest had just about completely disappeared behind them. Tao slowed then stopped looking around tilting her head to one side at the same time as if she were trying to hear something.

"Tao?" Naruto asked before looking around to see if he could find what it was she was looking at.

"I think it's best if everyone waits here…" she said still looking around.

"Why? The leaf and the sand are allies we should have no problem if all of us go there and ask this one person for help right?" Sakura asked. Tao shook her head.

"No… I don't think it will be that simple. I will be asking for help much like when I requested the help of Hinata and Lee; I did so without anyone really knowing. I think I may have to do something of the same here." While they wanted to argue it didn't look like she would be giving them any say in the matter so they nodded. Tao set up shield and then showed Lee that she could do the blocks and punches he had shown her. He then insisted he teach her his Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Spinning Wind). He showed it to her once and wanted to at least show her the first step to it but she insisted it was far too much for her to learn in one day. That done Lee didn't mind letting her leave after telling her she'd done a good job complete with two thumbs up.

"I wonder how she managed to get by as a ninja at home if she's never learned Taijutsu." Lee asked curiously as he sat down watching Tao walking in the direction of the village.

"Well she did tell us that she wasn't one remember?" Sakura pointed out.

"So you don't think she's ether a chounin or a genin?" Hinata asked quietly.

"I'm not sure what to think." Sakura stated sitting down right where she was.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked looking over at her trying not to sound suspicious. He knew they could trust Tao, but… he was sure he'd have a bit of trouble explaining it to the others without telling them everything. The last thing he wanted was for them to turn on her and leave them without help. He could tell from what she had said was happening at Kakashi's end was… well… he could just tell they were going to end up about neck deep in trouble. And they were going to need all the help they could get.

"I'm not really suspicious of her or anything Naruto; it's just strange is all. I mean she show's up out of nowhere right when we need her and has no problem what so ever helping a bunch of people she's never met before. And yet somehow she seems completely trustworthy."

"I'm not sure why I trust her really, I just get the feeling that she's safe is all." Hinata nodded at Lee's comment followed by Naruto then Sakura.

"It's just strange, that's all."

"I know, but I'm sure she'll tell us." They all nodded as they sat down and waited for Tao to return.

xxx

As Tao walked towards the main entrance of the Sand Village she took Kakashi's headband off from around her forehead and wrapped it around her waist before tugging her shirt down over it. She then ran a hand through her hair turning it a dark brown then turned her eyes the same color. That done she walked through the main gates of the Sand Village coolly and casually.

She stuck more to the sides of the streets where she could manage it not wanting to walk too much out in the open. This village seemed so much different to the Leaf; and yet it seemed to be so much like it at the same time. Looking around casually she spied a local sweet shop and decided to step in. Taking a seat in the back corner she ordered some tea. Before she went to look for the one her foresight had shown her she needed to send out the dreams to the ones Kakashi had told her about. She had already created the dream so all she had to do was send it. She thanked the lady who brought her tea and took a small sip of it. It was more a ruse than anything else. She knew if she simply sat there and went into a trance it would look suspicious, but now she hoped it would just look like she was taking her time to enjoy her tea. While she didn't like leaving her body in such a foreign place she didn't really have a choice. Tilting her head down slightly she closed her eyes and sent out her spirit form as fast as possible back to Konoha. Spirit travel was over a hundred times faster than traveling in the waking world. She found herself there in almost an instant; now all she had to do was find the ones she was looking for. Kakashi had told her where she could find each and every one of them, so all she had to do was hope they were there.

To her surprise each and every one of them was exactly where he said they would be. Although she couldn't quite figure out why some of them were where they were. She stared at the strange man crouching outside the lady's bathing areas wondering if he was simply lost before she planted the dream sphere in his mind. She had fixed them carefully to activate when the person was still awake rather than asleep. That way the person would only be half asleep when they saw it and would be uncertain if what they had seen had been a dream or reality. Or at least that's what she hoped.

Returning to her body she finished her drink and left enough coins on the table to pay for it before she headed out. Looking around she tried to see if she could spot the one she was looking for, or at least over hear their name. However, some time later, night was beginning to fall and she was quite sure she had walked the entire village with no sign or word of the one she was looking for. She gave a soft sigh before leaping to the rooftops to continue her search from a different point of view; she was fairly certain they were somewhere here in the village but where was the big question. Her bare feet moved quickly and silently oblivious to the roof tiles that still retained their heat from the sun that day

She was almost ready to call it a night; the sun had set and the moon was rising. Leaping down she walked towards a fountain that was set in the middle of a square. She cupped her hands and drank for a moment before sitting down on the edge of the fountain to think. Deciding that she'd at least give the village one final look over she got up and walked down one of the back streets that she was certain would lead her to the front gates where she could start her search from the beginning again. She only got about halfway down the street before she found herself surrounded by about five ninja's of the sand. She stood still, wanting to give the impression that she didn't pose a threat.

"It's not often we have a visitor to the Sand wandering around at this time of night, let alone through the back alleys." One of them said to her.

"What is your business here?" she looked at the one who had asked her. He looked about a foot taller than her and had a piece of white fabric hanging from his headband covering one side of his face. The part of his face she could see had two red stripes across the cheek. He looked strong and kind of foreboding.

"I have come here looking for someone to request their help." She said simply looking at the man.

"I'm afraid you are going to have to tell us more than that." Tao lowered her head as if to be apologetic.

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you more than that." She said as reached out with her mind to the hidden shuriken and kunai the ninja had on them; since this trick took time and concentration there was no way she could've used it before with no time and everyone jumping and moving around.

"We are not asking you _if_ you can tell us or not; you will tell us whether you have permission to share this information with us or not." A woman snapped from behind her. Rather than turn around she kept her head lowered not moving. The man in front of her seemed to make some sort of gesture to the woman behind her before addressing her again.

"You said you wanted to find someone to request help correct?" Tao nodded still keeping her head down. "I'm guessing your looking for someone in particular…" he paused for a moment as if to see if she would say anything but she did not. _Just keep talking_; she thought silently to herself, _this will only take a little bit more…_

"What is the name of the person you are looking for?"

"I can't say." She repeated.

"You don't know or you won't say?"

"I know their name, and what they look like. However… as I said I am unable to tell you who it is I'm looking for."

"That's it I've heard enough of this nonsense." The woman behind her grabbed her shoulder roughly and shoved her into a wall causing the ninjas to the sides of her to jump out of the way. "You will tell us what the hell you are doing here right now or –" Tao hid a grin, as she remained frozen against the wall.

"Surai what's wrong?"

"Someone pass me a kunai damn it!"

"Aren't you carrying any on you?"

"Of course I am you twit I just can't get them out of the holders!" _not for awhile anyway._ Tao thought to herself. She had pressed in as much static energy as possible into their weapons causing them to stick and hold fast to the holsters. The woman pressed Tao harder against the wall as if she were trying to push her right through it.

"Why can't we draw our weapons? I know you had something to do with this speak up!"

"Surai I know it looks suspicious but she's not a nin; how could anyone but a nin do something like this?" before she could respond Tao had slid to the side out of the woman's hold and swung her arm around quickly palm flat to connect with the back of the woman's upper neck. She hit the wall face first and fell down out cold. Lee had said this movement worked as an attack as well as a block and it seemed to be true. Channeling her energy to her feet she moved swiftly striking out in the same manner at the rest of them taking them completely by surprise. Only the man with the cloth over half his face managed to turn and block her in time.

"So I was wrong, it was you." Tao simply moved back then in again trying to strike him down again. He brought both his hands up to block "What is it that you truly came here for?" he asked as she jumped back once he had blocked her attack again.

"I told you before, I wasn't lying."

"You came to request help."

"Yes, I need this persons help; I cannot request help from anyone else in this village please." As she looked at him pleadingly he began to wonder if she really could be trusted or if she was just someone sneaking around the sand village looking for trouble.

"Tell me, how can you be so fast; not only that but you seem to be able to control charka at a Chounin level. Do you have a headband of your village and are simply hiding it?"

"I have a headband, but it does not belong to me, and I am no ninja." The man simply snorted in reply.

"People lie daily, sometimes without knowing it so tell me why should I believe that you a telling the truth?" Tao simply smiled warmly as if he had complemented her instead of accusing her.

"I can't help but wonder; if perhaps you know where I can find the one I'm looking for."

"Perhaps I do; I know a lot that goes on in this village. But how will you know if I know if you don't tell me who it is you are looking for?" Tao simply smiled again.

"It's very simple really; all I have to do is read the threads of time that surround you."

"What?" before the man could move Tao had moved from ten feet back to one foot in front of him.

"Don't worry, this wont hurt or affect you in anyway." She said as she placed a fingertip to his forehead. In an instant he felt his day play backwards through his mind as he had lived it, then the day before till it finally stopped. Stepping back from her quickly he placed a hand to his forehead as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened.

"I thank you for your help, but if you will excuse me I will now be on my way." She said with a small bow. However the man seemed to have no intention of letting her go anywhere. He charged at her striking out at her as if to hit but missed. At first Tao wasn't sure if she was dodging or if he was missing on purpose. She took the easiest exit trying to get down the backstreet away from him and his comrades in case they woke up. Unfortunately this seemed to be just what the man was after.

"I don't know who you are or what your after, but I'll be damned if I let you continue. Now let's see which is faster; your feet or my Kaze no Yaiba." Tao had no idea what technique he was planning to use, but she did know she didn't want to stay around to find out. The man sent out what looked like a blade of air which went slicing towards her at a deadly speed. The blade sliced down the street straight past where the girl had been standing. The man looked around confused for a moment before jumping to the rooftops to look around, but Tao was already far away from him.

She sat catching her breath in the shadows of one of the buildings, to move with such speed had caused her to draw on more energy than she had. That didn't really matter, so long as she didn't catch up with that man again. And without enough energy to keep the illusion on her hair and eyes she jumped back up to the rooftops. She had the mountains to her back and the whole city before her; as long as she kept the man in her site it shouldn't be too hard to keep him at a distance.

"That was quite a feat you pulled back there." Tao was sure she levitated about five feet before running forward to turn and face what she thought was the mountain wall behind her. Part of the mountain wall shifted away as if to create a doorway.

"Who's there?" Tao asked cursing her human eyes and the lack of moonlight. A boy stepped forward out of the mountain side, a pair of light green eyes looked up at her blankly yet she could sense a fierce hatred behind them; he was dressed all in black which made his red hair stand out even more. He glared at her slightly as if daring her; Tao simply looked at him and did the last thing he expected. She smiled at him.

"Wow am I happy I found you, I was running out of places to look." The boy just looked at her blankly as if he hadn't quite expected this reaction.

"You're Gaara right?" he nodded and she smiled even wider. "Good, I really need to ask for your help." Gaara simply glared at her.

"Do you have any idea what I am?" he asked in a simple tone.

"Yep, you house the demon Shukaku; but I'm not here to ask the help of a demon… I'm here to ask the help of Gaara, you." Tao could tell Gaara ether thought she was crazy or lying. _Ok… well I guess this just might be as tough as I was afraid of…_

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Naruto sat and watched the sun going down for a few moments before yelling out in frustration.

"What gives? She said she'd be right-"

Wham!

"Naruto, we were told to be silent!" Sakura hissed at him quietly while he rubbed his head.

"But I'm bored and I'm getting hungry… do you know how long it's been since I had ramen?"

"Not that long ago, you'll live. In fact you'll probably do better with a break from it." Naruto whined at her comment and wrapped his arms around his stomach and pouted.

"Naruto, why don't we spar for awhile?" Lee asked hoping to select an idea that would distract the blond for at least a few moments.

"What's the point? It's getting dark…"

"Well if you don't think you're a capable enough ninja to fight in any circumstance then I guess…"

"You're on fuzzy eyebrows!"

"Just try to keep it down?"

While the sparring didn't exactly go silently, it was quieter than Naruto's rants of boredom. Sakura simply settled herself next to Hinata who was sitting silently by herself as if hoping to be overlooked. Sakura offered the girl a smile and gave her a small nudge.

"Hey there; at least you seem to manage peace and quiet alright." Hinata just blushed and looked down at her hands before looking up at the two boys sparring. Sakura tried all the usual topics to get the girl to talk but nothing seemed to work. She had never really gotten the chance to talk to Hinata before and she wanted to take the opportunity to get to know the girl better.

"Come on, there's got to be someone in the village that you like." Sakura whispered giving the shy girl a playful nudge. Hinata just blushed a deep red and immediately looked away from Naruto. However her silence wasn't enough to hinder Sakura's curiosity and determination to make a new friend. She started listing off names of all the boys from the academy watching to see if Hinata responded to any of them. With each name Hinata just shook her head and kept her eyes downcast as she fiddled her fingers together.

"Well if it is a boy from the academy… the only other boy I can think of is Naruto." It was impossible for Sakura to miss Hinata's deep red blush on her pale cheeks, for a moment she was worried the girl might pass out.

"It's Naruto?" Sakura whispered making sure the boy in question wouldn't hear her. Hinata gave the tiniest of nods. Sakura smiled widely and wondered if it would be possible to fix the two of them up but then wondered if Naruto's overwhelming energy would scare Hinata. _Well… I don't think I could find a more appropriate situation that proves opposites attract…_ Sakura thought looking from the shy girl to the blond who was now grappling with Lee.

"It's sad though… he'll never notice me…"

"Huh?" Sakura looked at the girl confused.

"Naruto could never like a small thing like me… he likes girls more like you."

"Oh please Naruto doesn't…" Sakura didn't even finish her sentence; instead she blushed right along with Hinata and joined the girl's fascination of the ground.

"You never noticed?" Hinata whispered. Sakura shook her head and began tracing random lines in the sand and began wishing that Tao would get back soon so they could get moving again.

Xxx

The moon was almost at its peak in the sky when the four pairs of eyes that were memorizing the outline of the sand village finally saw two figures walking towards them. Naruto was hard pressed not to run out and greet Tao but his head still hurt from Sakura's earlier blow and he knew she'd add to it if he gave her the chance so he sat as patiently as possible and waited.

Once Tao lowered the shield she introduced the boy to everyone, and while they smiled and greeted him warmly he looked at them all seriously as if he had a grudge against each of them and didn't even offer the smallest 'hello' once they had said as much to him. Hinata, not liking his glaring gaze sidestepped slightly behind Naruto but her fear only seemed to agitate the boy even more. Not sure what to make of him Naruto simply decided to ask Tao about it later, right now he wanted to move out and find some food before making camp for the night. However Tao seemed to have a different idea in mind.

"We will keep traveling and not stop to rest till dawn." Sakura and Hinata didn't have too much trouble with this but Naruto and Lee who had been sparring gave a silent sigh. Well… Lee did, Naruto objected. Rather than answer him right away Tao suggested they move first and she would explain later. Knowing that was all he was going to get at the moment Naruto pouted. About to try complaining one more time he noticed the bandages that Tao now had rapped around both arms. _Did she get hurt again?_ He wondered not sure if she had even fully recovered from the last fight. Before he could ask Tao motioned to them and they all moved out.

Xxx

Naruto tried to carry or start conversations like before, but this time they all seemed to die in the air. Everything seemed more serious now somehow, he could almost feel it resting like a led weight on his shoulders. Silence ended up encompassing the group till dawn began to peer over the horizon in front of them. As she said they stopped and pooled together what they had left for breakfast. Over breakfast Naruto tried not to look at that boy… Gaara? Two things he could not figure out about him were, one… how could anyone live in the desert and be so pale? Wasn't the sun supposed to give you a tan? And what was up with that huge gourd on his back? Was that supposed to be some ninja tool or something? Naruto gave a silent snort and dug into his breakfast, the only thing that gourd looked to be good for was knocking people over the head with it. _I hope this guy is as good as Tao hopes… though I still don't see how we can be of any help if everything is as bad as she says…_

"Will we be continuing after breakfast Tao?" Lee asked as he finished his portion of the meal. Tao shook her head.

"No, you all will rest and take turns keeping watch; I need to contact the people in Konoha." They all nodded including Gaara, Naruto guessed Tao must've told him what was going on and what she was capable of.

"So we move out again once night falls?" Sakura asked. Tao nodded and finished her own food portion before sitting in a meditative pose. Looking around at each other they mostly wondered who would keep watch throughout the day.

"I don't sleep, so I will stay awake." Everyone looked at Gaara, slightly curious about his comment on not sleeping but all nodded anyway. Within moments the group was asleep and Gaara looked around at them all with a sneer. He lifted his hand experimentally, holding it out at each of them as if he were reaching for something but then rested his hand back at his side.

Xxx

As Naruto crossed over into the dream world he was surprised to find Tao waiting for him.

"I'm sorry I haven't had time to train you as I promised… but I was able to request the help of someone who will be able to train you probably better than I." Whirling around excitedly Naruto came face to face with a tall ominous figure. His red eyes gave a strange contrast to his orange hair. He wore what looked like black monk robes that made his pale skin stand out even more. Naruto glared up at the man wondering who he was and what he was doing in his dreams when the man laughed in a deep voice.

"What's the matter kit, don't recognize me?" Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"Kyuubi?" The man laughed again.

"So you recognize me after all."

"But I thought… aren't you… wait…" Naruto looked at Tao.

"Is he able to kill me now? Why doesn't he look like the nine tailed demon fox? How is he going to train me? Why-"

"One at a time!" Tao laughed. "No he can't kill you the seal is still there. He's in human form so he can train you and not be big enough to squash you if possible. And he will train you just as I have alright?" Naruto wasn't sure he liked this tradeoff. Sure Tao was a demon just like Kyuubi but… he turned around to look up at the blood red eyes then back at Tao.

"Can't I just wait for you to train me?"

"I'm afraid we might not have time for that…"

"Aww… but cant you tell? You said you could read the future and stuff."

"Kit, the future is a very difficult thing to predict. A choice to do one thing is a choice not to do a thousand others, but until one makes that choice the thousands of possible futures are still there." Naruto just gave the Kyuubi a blank look.

"Naruto, please trust me; now I need to meet up with Kakashi and go with him to Konoha to convince the hokage and the others." Naruto pouted but nodded none the less. Tao ruffled his hair before turning and disappearing in a shimmer, traveling through dream worlds in search of Kakashi.

"Well kit, looks like you're all mine now." Kyuubi said with an evil grin. "Time to help you use all of this power we have." Naruto just looked up at him and scowled as if he had somehow been left with the short end of the stick.

"And how are you supposed to teach me all this in one day?"

"We're actually going to take longer than one day." Kyuubi replied with a smirk.

"I may be lazy but I don't plan to stay asleep when my friends need me."

"Oh no no, we wouldn't want that now would we my kit? No I'm simply going to speed up time for us."

"Speed up time?"

"Yes, for your friends only one day will pass; however for us it will seem like three days."

"Um… you know you've been with me since I was um… pretty much born right? Then… shouldn't you know it takes me forever to get anything!" Kyuubi just chuckled at this outburst.

"Of course; but unlike before you will be training as if your life depended on it… and it just might."

"So what's first on the list then?" Naruto asked still sounding skeptical. Kyuubi didn't look so high and mighty at this size… sure he still had an evil aura around him; but having the Kyuubi inside him all the time helped him get used to it and Tao said he couldn't hurt him…

"First? Oh what to teach you first from my big list of _tricks_…" He thought for a moment then grinned evilly at Naruto. "Myou dageki; it's basically creating and sending out a large wave of charka that extends in a circle around you destroying everything it touches. Plus, if you use my charka instead of your own, my charka will drain the life of whatever the attack touches and add it to your own energy."

"Wouldn't it be bad if it hit my friends?" Naruto asked. Sure the technique sounded cool but he wanted to learn things that would deal damage to his opponents not his friends.

"Of course it would, but when you train you'll be able to make sure to miss them."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Nothing makes sense to a fool."

"HEY!"

"We will begin training now." Naruto growled but began mimicking the hand sigils.

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Authors Note: Well I hope it was worth the wait. Please R&R and don't worry, with summer break over my life has left me and I'll probably be on more to update more often. So till Ch 11… see ya!


	11. Talking with Hokage

Authors Note: Hey everyone! Told you I'd be back thanks to everyone for all the reviews!

**Dragon Man 180:** oh yes, Naruto will be worked harder than ever before. And I'm sure Tao's happy she's not going into Jiraiya's head again any time soon

**HieiJaganshi11:** Thanks here's an update :)

**Saico:** Yes that's very true… but do remember that Tao is a demon fox and is certainly capable of many things.

First I'm going to say sorry to all 'cause there's going to be a bit of talking in this chapter to explain some stuff. I'm not going to explain everything because I don't like giving out the entire story line/saying what's going to happen or is currently happening, so sorry but yeah…

And without further a due and without further distractions, I give you ch.11!

* * *

Tao sat with Kakashi in spirit form above the building in which he said the leader of the village, the Hokage, had his office.

"Are you sure they will all come?" Kakashi asked Tao again, still not sure how this was all working or if it was working for that matter. Tao nodded.

"The dreams I gave them were all very pressing, and I'm sure they had a hard time telling if they were really awake or not."

"That real huh?" Tao nodded again. He wasn't sure why he doubted her, already two of the people he had requested her to send dreams to had already come in to see the Hokage and he could see others on the way. Before long they were all in the room with the Hokage with one seated on top of the roof listening in on everything that was going on.

"Hey that's that one lost guy." Tao said pointing to the man as he seated himself on the roof pulling a pipe from his pocket.

"Lost?" Kakashi asked looking confused.

"Well he was a guy and he was outside the women's bathing areas," Kakashi blushed quite sure he didn't want to explain to her that the man wasn't lost but right where he wanted to be. "Plus the only thing he had on his mind was all these girls taking baths."

"Taking baths?"

"Well I guess so… they weren't wearing anything so they must've been taking a bath right?" Having no idea how to respond to that or how to explain to a female demon fox that obviously grew up without any perverted brothers or anything tried to change the subject.

"What were you doing in his mind anyway?"

"I had to root the dream to his mind, so I had to find something to tie it to." When Kakashi just gave her a blank look Tao tried to explain further.

"I can plant the dream but the person has to dream it, I attach it to a memory that leads to the dream and activates it. I had to look way into his past to find the right thing to anchor it to." Not wanting to get anymore confused Kakashi decided it was time to move onto the matter at hand. Tao had to somehow drag everyone there to the dream world at once. If she did it separately the others would notice and get suspicious and it would be harder to compel them to sleep. When Kakashi asked if Tao could take Charka the same way she could transfer it to others; she had said she had never tried it but could probably get it to work. In that case they needed the biggest boost of charka they could get and since the Hokage was out of the question that left the one Kakashi called Jiraiya.

"Just call to him sweetly and he'll be asleep in an instant." Kakashi offered as Tao tried to pull his spirit into the dream world.

"What do you mean?" Tao asked looking at him confused. Kakashi tried to explain and Tao tried to do as instructed. Sure enough a smile spread across the mans face and he slumped forward. Tao quickly took his spirit along with Kakashi's back to the dream world.

Jiraiya looked around the planes of the dream world confused. However once he spotted Tao he smiled widely but before he could move towards her Kakashi quickly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Hold up, this isn't your ordinary dream."

"Well I'd disagree, there are always beautiful women in my dreams; but the fact that you are here might suggest a lapse in my writing." It took some small effort but the two of them managed to quickly convince Jiraiya that they were not apart of his dream or something dreamt up but separate, solid outside of the dream world. That done Tao led them back to the room in which everyone stood debating over what they believed to be premonitions while the Hokage simply sat and listened patiently while each of them said their part then agued over it with the one standing next to them waiting for the moment to interject. Kakashi stood back while Jiraiya placed his hands on Tao's shoulders, Tao had rejected Kakashi's offer of his own charka saying he needed it. Carefully Tao gathered her own small pool of charka then tried reaching for Jiraiya's. At first it seemed like nothing was happening then she felt a great flood of energy from him pouring into her. Quickly she wove it around everyone in the room binding them tight. One person stuttered while another yawned, the Hokage slumped slightly in his chair; swiftly but carefully, making sure not to leave anyone of them behind Tao pulled with everything she had and all that Jiraiya had lent to her.

Once the group looked around the dream world for a moment, confused, they immediately began arguing and debating anew on what was going on. The Hokage remained silent and looked around and raised an eyebrow when he saw Kakashi and Jiraiya walking up to him as casually as if they had just bumped into each other on the street. The two quickly explained to him what was going on and introduced him to Tao who seemed a little shy about meeting the grand leader of the village. The Hokage smiled at her in greeting before turning to the others who seemed ready to try and break out of wherever it was they had been placed.

"That is enough, all of you." He said in a firm voice that settled the crowd. "Now then, if you could all be quiet for a moment…" he said giving them a questioning look before turning to talk to Kakashi and Tao. Kakashi quickly briefed him on the situation he and Sasuke were in and confirmed Tao's side of the story about someone capturing or 'recruiting' certain members from villages. The hokage stayed quiet all the while listening to the two of them only speaking up on one or two points to ask Tao to clarify something she had briefed over a little too hazily. "Now then, while I do understand what it is you are both telling me… what is stopping me from believing this isn't some kind of mind trick?" He asked looking at Tao seriously but not foreboding as to scare her. "You say you planted the dreams in our minds, how can I believe you didn't plant this as well."

"The dreams I gave you were all true possibilities of the future, I cannot create things that are false." Jiraiya looked at her surprised and looked to Kakashi for conformation, Tao just looked at the hokage almost pleadingly in hopes that he would believe her.

"I'm not sure about the dreams but everyone here does seem solid, real." Glancing over the hokage's shoulder to see who had spoken and nearly ducked behind the hokage to hide from him. It was Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata's father. The last thing Tao felt like doing at that point in time was to try and explain to the man how she had managed to lead his daughter away from him willingly without him noticing. She simply stayed where she was and hoped he didn't recognize her. The hokage, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all explained to everyone what was going on.

"So you have no idea what the motives are behind these people." Asked a woman with a large red triangle on ether side of her face, unruly brown hair and wild eyes.

"No, not wholly; Tao suggested the possibility that these people want to turn all the villages against one another."

"If they succeeded it would cause a full scale war throughout the country… what would they gain from this?" Gai wondered aloud.

"It would make it very easy for them to move into any village and take over." Said a man in a thick trench coat and strange goggle-like glasses. "All they would have to do is wait till a village was too weak to hold out any longer and move in."

"And with everyone fighting each other no one would notice till it's too late." The hokage finished and everyone began talking all at once again. Tao listened as they all debated on the best course of action. One man kept saying the whole thing was troublesome and that they shouldn't try anything until they had all the pieces on the board. Gai and Kakashi were debating over the best course of action while the woman with the wild hair was having what seemed to be a really loud debate with the man with the sunglass-goggles. Hiashi continued to stand by the hokage looking at Tao out of the corner of his eye while the hokage seemed to be taking in and listening to all the ideas that were being thrown around while formulating his own idea.

"You're the one who came to my house to request Hinata's help aren't you?" Hiashi asked looking at Tao. He spoke calmly and simply yet there seemed to be a cold fierceness to his gaze that caused Tao to shiver slightly as she gave a small nod.

"Yes sir, I am." The man looked her over for a brief moment before continuing.

"You have dragged my daughter into certain danger and possible death have you not?"

"No I haven't." she said looking him in the eye. "I have an ability of foresight… the safest place for Hinata to be was with me and the others."

"Can you show me this foresight of yours?" When Tao paused for a moment not fully understanding his question he asked again. "Can you show me what would have happened if Hinata had stayed home?" Tao nodded immediately.

"Of course, the past is always easier to handle that the future." Before he could ask what she meant she placed a fingertip on his forehead and everything around him blurred then stabilized a few moments later.

---

Looking around Hiashi saw he was in his main study back at home.

"The day will keep replaying showing you as many possible outcomes as you like, whenever you're done just say 'end vision' and I'll pull you out of it ok?" Hiashi nodded and looked up at the clock. It was about an hour before the girl came to ask for his daughter… did that mean he only had an hour to change what was going to happen? Hiashi though for a moment then went to Hinata's room and knocked on the door. Hinata opened it and tried to hide behind the door when she saw it was her father.

"Hinata, I want you to walk with me." It wasn't a suggestion and Hinata knew it. She quickly put on her sandals and followed her father out the door.

Hiashi walked down the streets of Konoha, his daughter following beside him eyes downcast.

"F…father? Have I done something…?" Hinata asked shyly, afraid she had done something wrong.

"No." Her father replied shortly causing Hinata to flinch but he didn't notice, he was too busy keeping an eye on everything around them calculating every possibility. No enemy would be foolish enough to attack them or try to kidnap his daughter while they were walking through the village. If there really was a threat, it would sit and wait for the opportune moment. But Hiashi planned to find them before they got the chance to find one, _Hyuga is the strongest in the leaf_ he thought to himself firmly.

---

After removing her hand from Hiashi's forehead she had to explain to the Hokage what she had just done and how she was unable to see into the future to see what Kakashi's captors had planned or even who they were.

"I suppose the best way I can put it is, the future isn't set, nothing is certain. By knowing what's going to happen then doing something else, the future changes. When looking into the future, every single possibility is shown before me and I have to choose one and see where that goes."

"But there are many things that attribute to the future; you have to sort through all those things then to get one possibility out of perhaps thousands correct?" Tao nodded.

"That is why it is so hard, also the ability requires charka, something I do not have a lot of. What I used to get everyone here was lent to me from Jiraiya." The hokage nodded.

"Is it possible for you to look for people in specific?"

"In specific?" Tao asked not sure she understood what he meant.

"In the dream you gave me, there was someone I believe I saw there but since he was not my opponent I did not have time to see if it was him."

"You want me to see if this person is connected to the future I saw?" the hokage nodded. "Alright, just picture the face of the person you want me to find." He gave a nod and Tao placed a finger to his forehead. The image was of a man the hokage hadn't seen in awhile, that was alright, by following his past she'd have a better chance of finding him in the future.

"I still don't see why we can't just alert the other villages and tell them what's happening…"

"It's not as simple as that, is there any reason for them not to expect us? Besides the only village we have a peace treaty with at the moment is the sand and I doubt they'd believe us-"

"With our youth and determination we will be triumphant!"

"I take it then the dream you got wasn't all that terrible then." Asuma asked giving Gai a questioning look.

"Of course I was! That's why…" he looked down his fists clenched, his face serious. "That's why we've got to stop this from happening. It might be foolish to trust this girl so wholeheartedly; however, if what I saw is really going to happen then… I think we should be grateful that we are being given a chance to change the future." The others nodded.

"Is this girl really as trustworthy as the two of you claim?" Kakashi nodded.

"In the short time that we have I am afraid I am unable to explain the whole situation to you but let me say this much; if you cannot trust her then trust my trust in her."

"Does she even have a plan?" Gai asked. Kakashi smiled.

"She has a plain. And while I'd like the records to say that I was against this at the first, I do agree with her statement that it is the best possible action." Everyone looked at Kakashi who paused for a moment before continuing. "Tao plans on getting captured by the enemy, since she can project her spirit from her body she will be able to follow them and find where they are located."

"What? What good is getting captured do?"

"Sure we'll know where the enemy is but what next?"

"She and the others will free the captives, an attack from the outside and from within, it will be up to you and the hokage to see how many you can muster to join the fight." No one questioned the need for reinforcements, in the future the village had stood on it's on in the intense battle, and from everyone's point of view they had been loosing.

"Keep in mind this is merely the skeletal base of the plan, we must flesh it out." The others nodded. Before they could start planning the hokage spoke up.

"It seems that we must depart now, Tao needs to return and we have some planning to do. From what Tao, Jiraiya and Hiashi have given me a good idea of what we will be up against." Tao asked everyone to gather close together to make it easier to send everyone back. She carefully placed everyone back in their own body making sure not to misplace anyone. One by one everyone picked themselves up off the floor as they woke up. Everyone murmured to each other while they waited for everyone to wake up. The hokage spoke once everyone was awake and collected.

"Now then, how clear is everyone on the current situation?" as a group they all went over what they had been told till everyone was on the same page.

Just outside the door stood a Chuunin, his back leaned against the wall listening on the conversation. After a moment the man's head slumped forward, he then looked around confused and walked back to his post.

In a tea house not too far off Ino sat up and grinned at her teammates.

"Do I even want to know how troublesome this is going to be?" Shikaimaru asked giving her an irritated look, Choji just kept eating.

"Sakura's gone off on this super cool mission! How could she I deserve to go more than she does." Shikaimaru sighed and just sipped his drink while Ino ranted.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Shikaimaru asked when she started repeating herself.

"Yes, we're going after them." She said proudly causing Shikaimaru to spit out his tea and Choji to choke.

"Are you insane?" Shikaimaru asked as he patted Choji on the back.

Not too far from the tea house Kiba, and Shino sat hiding behind an inn.

"I don't see why you don't just send Akaimaru to spy on the meeting."

"Arf!"

"That's right Akaimaru, if my mom gets a whiff of Akaimaru we'd be dead where we stand. Look, we need to go find where Hinata's gotten to and your bugs are the best way of finding out."

"And if my dad spots the bugs?"

"You're not that dumb to get caught are you?" Shino said nothing but ran though possible replies in his mind. After a few more moments of waiting with Kiba sharing jokes with Akaimaro Shino's bugs returned.

"Well? What did they say what did they say!" Kiba asked grabbing on to Shino's shoulder looking down at the bugs.

"Give me a moment and I'll ask." Shino said wishing Kiba would be a little more patient, but then again as his teammate Shino knew that Kiba was in no way a patient person. After the bugs told Shino what they had heard he translated to Kiba.

"Ok let's go!" He said standing up triumphantly.

"Go? Where?"

"To save our teammate of course! You know how Hinata is in a fight, as her teammates we have to be there to protect her!" Shino hated it when Kiba had a point.

"May I remind you though that the group Hinata is traveling with is moving and we are not even positive of their current position?"

"Hey, with my nose and your bugs I'm sure we'll do fine."

"Woof woof!"

"You said it Akaimaru lets go!" Shino sighed, one way or another he knew he was going to be dragged into this, he knew better than to argue with Kiba who was always happy to drag him along if need be.

"Perhaps I should send the bugs back to listen in a little longer so we know what we're up against."

"Look, Naruto was selected to go on this mission, how hard could it possibly be?"

---

Tao woke up in her own body once she was done placing everyone back in there own bodies. She had originally intended to check on Naruto before she woke up but she had to place her trust in Kyuubi. He was the fabled nine tailed demon fox after all; there was no demon alive that could rival his powers, and if Naruto could manage to pull off even a small portion of his power they'd be set. Arching her back down and her shoulders up she stretched almost like a cat might before pulling her legs under her to sit.

"Sleep well?" Tao looked at Gaara and smiled.

"Thank you for keeping watch while we slept, I'm sure the others will also appreciate the reprieve."

"You slept soundly while leaving me to watch over you knowing full well what I am, how? Everyone I have ever met has been afraid of me including my own family, what gives you such confidence?" Gaara's tone never changed from its uncaring attitude making it hard to tell what he was thinking.

"I trusted you is all." Gaara smirked.

"You'd place you're trust in a demon?" He asked his tone taking on an edge of mockery.

"No I trusted _you_." She replied simply as she undid the bandages on her arms to reveal deep cuts up and down both arms. In an attempt to scare her away Gaara had used his sand in an attempt to tear off a limb or two; in the end all she had were nasty cuts on her arm and still no fear.

"Your ramblings make no sense." He said blatantly. Tao just chuckled softly.

"I know, you'd think after all the time I've been around I would at least make some sense when I said something."

"How old are you anyway?" He asked

"I'm the equivalence of 22 years old I believe." Gaara wanted to ask what she meant by 'equivalence' but decided it couldn't be anything important so he resumed his brooding silence. Raising her left arm to eyelevel she began the old habit of washing her wounds gingerly with her tongue. She re-bandaged that arm and did the same to the other arm. Once that was done she looked over at the others who were still sleeping. Her eyes rested on Naruto, she could return to the dream world to see how he was doing but knew Kyuubi wouldn't appreciate the interruption, and she thought it might be best to stay awake with Gaara.

In the dream world Naruto lay on his back chest heaving as he tried to take in more air than possible. Blood or sweat trickled down his back and forehead. At first he thought it wasn't possible to get tired in the dream world, he was asleep after all, but Kyuubi's relentless drilling over… he wasn't sure how many day's it had been since he never rested. Was it possible to go to sleep when you were already to sleep? Naruto groaned as he felt Kyuubi's foot tap his side.

"Get up kit; you've only learnt two of the three techniques I was hoping to teach you before dawn came in the waking world."

"Can't I rest for a moment?" came the panting reply.

"You're already sleeping, what more rest could you possibly have?"

"Damn Kyuubi! That's not what I meant and you know it! I'm tired! I'm hungry and I want ramen!" He whimpered the last part; he really wanted a nice bowl of ramen right then, with all kinds of things added to it.

"There is no need to eat in the dream world."

"Then why do I feel hungry! Damn!" Naruto curled up on his side clutching his stomach, his muscles cried out in pain at the movement which also caused closed wounds to open up again. "If this is just a dream, then why am I so tired, why do I bleed, and why do I feel hungry?" Naruto didn't move or voice an objection when a firm arm wrapped around his waist and picked him up; he simply hung in the grip which held him as if he weighed nothing.

"Because your spirit is tired from training, and you shouldn't feel hungry, just tell yourself you're not hungry, it's a psychological thing."

"A what?" Naruto mumbled. Rather than reply Kyuubi dropped him in the river that ran thought the dream world. Rather than swim to the surface he simply let himself sink to the bottom. Where he lay for a moment in an almost dream like state. As he lay underwater with his eyes closed he saw the rippling light on the waters surface on the insides of his eyelids. The gentle murmur of water sounded in his ears. There was a bright flash which caused Naruto to struggle almost as if he were trying to reach it. He felt his body go numb as the light consumed his vision and seemed to engulf him.

Opening his eyes he saw himself back inside Konoha. _I guess this answers the question as to weather or not you can have a dream in a dream_. Naruto thought to himself. Looking around he saw people who looked to be frozen in place, in the middle of what looked like one huge fight. There were gigantic snakes above the village and over there a giant frog and… was that a slug? He saw a distance in front of him a man with blue skin wielding a sword that looked like it could rival Zabuza's. He suddenly felt like there was someone directly behind him. Turning he saw Sasuke with a wind blade looking like he was ready to strike Sakura who held a look of pleading in her eyes as frozen tears lined her face. The look on Sasuke's face was almost demonic, a black pattern lined one side of his face and his eyes looked like a serpents. Forgetting that he was in a frozen dream he shoved Sakura out of the way. Almost as if someone had hit the play button on the dream everything roared into motion. He heard the screams of the people dying around him; he somehow knew it was the sound of a loosing battle. He felt the blade slice right through him.

"Dobe, how do you expect to save the people you care for now?" Sasuke sneered as he yanked the blade from Naruto. He fell on his back clutching his side, Sakura's face appeared overhead. She said something to him but her words missed his ears, he simply smiled up at her but that only caused her to cry more. _Where's Kyuubi? I… I can't feel him._ Sakura's mouth continued to move without sound and tears continued to fall down her face. _Don't cry…_ that's what he wanted to say… he opened his mouth as if to try to speak but his lungs wouldn't supply the air he needed to speak. He felt blood spill over onto his lips and watched as Sakura's face faded from his vision. His heartbeat sounded in his ears, a steadily slowing rhythm. The beat stopped and Naruto felt himself waiting for the next beat that didn't come, feeling something that he was afraid might be death wrap around him he began to lash out. Opening his mouth he ordered his lungs to take in air, instead they took in water.

He thrashed himself to the surface and struggled out of the water as quickly as he could wanting to get away from what he believed to be the cause of what had been a very realistic dream.

"This is what Tao knows, it was what she saw happening before she came to help you." Naruto looked up at Kyuubi his eyes burned with anger and confusion.

"What the hell was that!"

"A possible future, you saw your perspective, Tao showed different perspectives to those in your village in hopes of convincing them of the approaching danger. Though I hope that by now that future is a changed one, do you see now why you have to train?" Naruto nodded, a grim look on his face. The two techniques he had learnt so far were above and beyond him to the degree that anytime he used them he had to be channeling Kyuubi for it to work. But those two attacks he felt were worth the effort, all he had to do was be able to channel as much as Kyuubi as possible while not completely loosing his head.

"Now, let's see how much of my power you can manage, once you are channeling more than you can bare I want you to complete both techniques. First Kuro Ashi no jutsu, then Kagai Tsukai no jutsu." Naruto braced himself as he felt Kyuubi's immense charka flood through him then pour out of him to wrap around him like a second skin or a thick pelt. When he felt the now familiar pain surge through him he brought his hands up in front of him forming the hand seals.

"KURO ASHI NO JUTSU!" the charka poured to his hands forming dark spheres of charka. Turning to a tree he shoved his hands in front of him releasing the charka. The spheres hit the tree with an explosive force that completely cut the tree in two and continued on to hit the tree behind it. Naruto's arm began to twitch from the strain but Kyuubi wasn't going to give him the chance to rest just yet. Walking over to another tree he formed different hand seals.

"Kagai Tsukai no jutsu!" he said with a little less energy. Again his hands went dark with the Kyuubi's charka this time he placed his hands on the tree. Immediately the tree began to wither as Naruto felt the tree's life drain into him. Naruto didn't like the idea of killing something just so he could have more charka, but he wasn't planning to say as much to Kyuubi. Naruto removed his hands once the tree had turned completely ashen with no life left to draw from it.

"You may balk at the idea of this technique at first, but it will come in handy I assure you." Naruto didn't answer, he simply collapsed to the ground where he was his whole body shaking from the strain as Kyuubi's power left him.

"What… I… don't get is… how is this going to be helpful?" he said between gasps of air. "If I'm out of charka, and I need your charka to do it… how is this going to work?" he managed to ask.

"What if you come across someone with more charka than you? No I didn't say more than me, just more than you. You will be able to drain their charka and add it to your own so that they are unable to use any techniques." When he didn't get a reply he gave a soft growl. "You don't have to do it to the point that you kill the person, I just think its better because then you don't have to worry about them coming back." Naruto gave a soft chuckle.

"Hey Kyuubi, how much more time do we have?" He managed to mumble. Kyuubi shut his eyes for a moment as if concentrating.

"Perhaps a day's worth of time if we are lucky."

"So in two day's I've learnt two techniques, I can manage a third."

"Yes but at this rate you will be completely exhausted when you return to the waking world."

"You mean I won't have any charka other than yours?"

"Yes."

"That's fine… I'll just hug a few trees or something after I wake up…" he mumbled a small smile on his face.

* * *

Authors note: and with that I present the end of the chapter! Sorry for all the talking and explaining… again please no flames, I'm not asking you to read this story, if you don't like it go find one you do like and read it instead of reading all the way through this one and flaming it, its just a waste of both our times. Although I do have some marshmallows I need to roast to make s'mores… yum. Other than that, please read and review and I'll see if I can start working on the next chapter so I don't leave it as long again. Till next time! 


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